Elfen Lied: Alternate
by FreemanIsLegend
Summary: A different approach to the Elfen Lied storyline. Kouta still remembers about his family's murder, but cannot recall who. Since then he had severe depression until he met Lucy/Nyu nine years later. His new relationship with her will change for the better and worse with dire consequences. Rated T for psychological and physical abuse, moderate violence, and some sensuality.
1. A Reunion With No Memories

Elfen Lied: Alternate

**Chapter One: A Reunion With No Memories**

Violence is what Lucy could remember. Thoughts of blood, guts, and screams of agony ran through her mind during her escape from the facility, killing around 20 people without empathy or mercy. All of a sudden, she sees the young Kouta screaming at her. "Stop killing!" "Please, stop!" the young Kouta yells at Lucy in her dream, seeing tears from his eyes. That stop Lucy's dream.

Lucy slowly opens her eyelids, seeing the moist sand and the active city lights in her vision. The wind blows violently and the rain shows no mercy. She got up and realized that she was naked. Looking left and right, she needs to find shelter and some clothes to wear, but need to avoid detection. After a couple of minutes, Lucy successfully bypassed a group of humans, undetected and overheard a conversation about an unused inn that is now occupied by a young adult. She still had no clothes to wear to counter the cold and bitter rain. She saw an uphill trail that leads to the inn and follows it. The headache is too immense to handle due to the sniper shot at the metallic helmet she wore during her escape. The main entrance of the inn was in her vicinity and walked a couple more steps.

"I…I can make it" Lucy said to herself.

The arctic, unbearable rain and the intolerable headache pinned Lucy and falls onto the inn's doorstep. Lucy use one of her vectors to ring the doorbell, hoping that someone would respond. Her body finally surrenders to the rain and her conscious passes out.

Kouta sat in a crisscross position, staring at a photo of his younger sister that lay on the small wooden table. He develops a series of small and rapid tears. Memories of his younger sister remain fresh in his mind. He grabs his antidepressant medication and consumes one of the pills.

"I am sorry, Kanae" he upsettingly whispers.

Ever since Kanae and Kouta's father was murdered nine years ago, Kouta fell into depression, up to the point that he had thoughts of committing suicide. His cousin, Yuka, stepped in to intervene. Kouta was sent to the mental ward for a year. Since he was in the mental ward, his mental stability was restored, but at the cost that he vows to find and kill the person who murdered his family. Kouta did not have a clear picture of who killed his family, mainly because he repressed this particular memory of the individual. Kouta heard the doorbell ringing throughout the empty inn.

"Who would come here at this time around?" Kouta wonder. He walk toward the main entrance and slid the shoji door (it is a sliding door that is commonly seen in Japan). The first instinct he sees was only the tremendous rain and the trees leaning westward by the gusting winds, but he heard a sound that is unfamiliar to him. He looks downward and sees a young, pink colored hair woman, approximately around his age, with no clothes and shivers rapidly in a fetal position. The young woman wakes up and sees Kouta, who was in a shocked state.

"Nyu" the young woman said. "You okay?" Kouta asks. Just after Kouta finish his question, the young woman he does not know, is scared from his presence. She then tries to run away, but she slipped and fell forward. The rain continues to hit the woman as she got up and begins crying. "Oh boy" he said to himself. He approached to the crying woman and said: "Come inside, you will catch a cold if you don't seek shelter."

**Five Minutes Later**

To Kouta, five minutes feels like an eternity, mainly because he has to find a suitable shirt for the young, pink-haired woman. He gave her a white woven shirt and expects for her to change attire. Unfortunately, she does not know how to. Kouta was expecting a reaction from the woman since it was inappropriate to see a stranger with no clothes on, but this did not occur. "Nyu" she said to Kouta. "I guess that I can call your name as Nyu, then" Kouta tells her. He studies the young woman who can only say 'Nyu'. As his eyes looks upward, he then quickly notice that she has horns on her forehead. At first, he thought that a spiked object might have penetrated her skull, but as he touches and lightly pulls it, he realized that the 'horns' were a part of her body. A hallucination appears in Kouta's mind as a shadowy female girl with horns said to him: "Liar."

Kouta jumps away from Nyu as she gives him a concerned gesture. Kouta struggles to control his breathing, but later turns stable when he presses his right hand onto his chest. He takes a few, deep breathes and sees Nyu worry about him. When Kouta was hallucinated, Nyu takes his plain white undershirt and wears it. For him, he does not need to worry about putting his undershirt for Nyu. "You need to keep yourself warm for a couple of minutes, Nyu" he tells her. "I'll have the beef soup ready."

By the time Kouta made warm beef soup and five onigirl, Nyu impatiently wait for the food to be served. As Kouta puts down the tray that contains the meal on the table, Nyu grabs two onigirl with both of her hands and munches her way down. Kouta intervene. "Don't you know how to eat onigirl?" he asks. "I know that you are hungry, but it is improper for someone to eat onigirl that fast." He grabs one of the onigirl and shows it to her. "You hold the onigirl like this." Nyu leans to the onigirl Kouta was holding. Her eyes widened and open her mouth, then made eye contact at him. Knowing that Nyu was desperately starving, Kouta gave up. "Oh well, just eat it." Nyu took a small bite of onigirl from Kouta and slowly chews it. She closes her eyes, wanting to get the texture and taste of the onigirl. Kouta sees onigirl crumbs around her mouth and uses his index finger to wipe it off. Nyu gives a childlike smile, delighting Kouta.

Nyu spots Kouta's backpack near the kitchen cabinet and walks toward it. Kouta watches Nyu as she looks inside and picks up a purple, rectangular jewelry box. She accidentally drops the box and the seashell bounces off the floor a few times. Kouta walks toward Nyu and grasp the seashell. "The seashell is a memento of my younger sister, Kanae" Kouta said softly. Nyu detects Kouta's facial expression, depression and, in some extent, sadness. "You can hold it for a bit, Nyu." "I am going to take my medication."

Kouta opens the cabinet and takes out the antidepressant medication bottle. He opens the bottle cap and plucks one pill. He consumes the pill and quickly drinks a glass of water afterwards. Suddenly, he hears a cracking noise. Nyu breaks the seashell and when Kouta sees the seashell in half, emotional shockwaves blast at him. He cannot commit an action until he sees Nyu smiling and said 'Nyu' simultaniously. Nyu's smile triggers Kouta's anger and snatches the undershirt. Nyu's emotion swiftly changes to horrified. "Did I not tell you that the seashell is a memento of my sister?" Kouta barks. Nyu tries to push Kouta away, but Kouta tightly grips the undershirt. "What were you thinking, huh?" "I let you seek shelter and serve you food, and this is how you pay me?" "Get out!"

The two words, 'Get out', disgruntled Nyu and develop tears a few seconds later. Nyu drops the broken seashell. Kouta let go of Nyu and she runs outside. It is still raining while the sky is pure black and the cold raindrops continue to pour. Kouta did not try to catch Nyu, but he stares at the broken seashell, thinking why Nyu would do so. He begins to wonder if Nyu sees the seashell as a burden symbol, and in a few minutes, he accepts the theory. As he stares the seashell, his mind interprets to his sister's death. A sudden and brief hallucination reveals how his sister was killed. Kouta walk backwards and fell on the kitchen floor. The hallucination was gone. When Kouta escapes from his violent hallucination, Nyu is at the beach, still crying from Kouta's rage and the possibility of facing neglect from him. In atonement, Nyu starts digging the sand with her bare hands in an attempt to find the seashell and give to Kouta so he can forgive her.


	2. Penance

**(Kurama calls a squadron of the Special Assault Team, abbreviated as SAT, to track and kill Lucy. Bando sees an opportunity to challenge the diclonius and was dropped on the beach, in search for Lucy. The only information he knew was a young adult female with horns on her head. His search end quickly when he spots the potential suspect in the distance)**

A small tidal wave splashes Nyu's vulnerable body just as she was already weak from the unforgiving glacial rain and the wave made it worse. She looks at the ocean and rushes to find the seashell for Kouta, but her right hand turns numb, paralyzed to continue further digging. Nyu recalls the two words Kouta said: 'Get out'. The tears blend with the rain, but she continues to dig with her remaining strength. She bulldozed the sand in a few sweeps with her left hand and discovers the seashell that is similar to Kouta's. The new seashell is now in Nyu's possession. Her pink eyes examine the shell and triumphs, and then she hears someone pacing on the sand. Nyu believes that it was Kouta who probably is searching for her. Nyu turns around innocently, trying to appeal Kouta, but it was not him at all. The last visual memory Nyu sees was a soldier holding a rifle and whacks her in the forehead.

Kouta did felt remorseful for his uncontrollable rage on Nyu, but his heart did not want him to seek forgiveness. The seashell that Nyu broke was the last memento of his sister except for the picture of her, holding a stuffed purple rabbit. The thought of Nyu smiling at him when the seashell snapped in half continues to anger him, but felt some sympathy. All of a sudden, a lightning bolt struck, unleashing its roar. The lightning strike was a wakeup call, realizing that Nyu ran away and is still outside, somewhere. Kouta grabs an umbrella, locks the shoji door, and walks to the market district. He did not seek for Nyu, considering that she might come back to the inn eventually or the possibly that she already went home.

Nyu wakes up and stares at her captor, dragging her feet. She was being lugged even when she lay on the sand. Bando want to seek a challenge from Nyu. Bando stops lugging Nyu and examines the horns. "Mass murderer" Bando states. "Damn you, fight me!" Bando's grouchy voice stupefied Nyu and sees an abandon rowboat, attempting to leap over but she fell. Nyu mutters the word, 'nyu' in an innocent manner, but Bando is displeased. He swings his rifle like a baseball bat and strikes Nyu at her right cheek, collapse onto the fishing net and briefly lost conscious. "Coward!" Bando yells at the uncommunicative Nyu. Bando walks to the opposite direction and pulls out his pistol so he can kill her, despite the fact that he wants a challenge. He turns around and his mood immediately changes. Lucy is awake.

**(The fight scene between Lucy and Bando is the same from the manga and anime. The next scene starts when Bando was shot by Lucy and she begins to torture him with her vectors until she sees the seashell)**

Lucy felt something in her right hand and unravel to see what it was. The seashell seems to stop her current action on Bando and the headache occurs. Lucy screams and tries to compress the headache by pressuring her head with her hands. The vectors disappear and the aggressive tone that Lucy usually releases transit to a much more innocent cry. A few breaths soon follow and the girl is no longer Lucy. "Nyu" she said naively as if did not know what just happen. Bando continues to yell at her and Nyu is frightened with his bloodied uniform and his agonized moans. Nyu runs away and wails. The only objective Nyu had in mind is to go back to the inn and give the replaceable seashell to Kouta. After a lengthy five minute run, she reaches to the inn though she tripped on the stone stairs a few times. The inn is completely dark with no signs of light. This is Nyu's worst case scenario. Nyu runs to the main entrance and tries to open the shoji door, but it is firmly locked. She cries out, 'Nyu', in multiple occasions and her cries sound like an adorable puppy that is lost in the wilderness. If Kouta have heard it, he would have forgiven and hug her. Nyu concede her attempt to open the shoji door and decides to wait until Kouta comes back. Nyu sat down on the doorstep and prone in a humble position, weeping on her own indiscretion.

The market district gives an illumination of city life. Kouta is heading for the grocery store, wanting to buy fruits for himself. Two police cars, followed by an ambulance pursuit to the beach nearby the market. At first, Kouta thought the police had found Nyu, but he did not conclude with the theory. "Nyu's mannerisms are utterly poor, but she is very…adorable" Kouta thought. His cell phone vibrates in his left pocket and he takes it out. The caller is Yuka, his cousin that psychologically saved his life from committing suicide. "Hello Yuka" Kouta said. "Do not forget that I will be visiting you within the next hour" Yuka happily tells him. Kouta just remembered that she was coming over to vist, but he forgot about it due to Nyu's sudden appearance in his front door. His thought about Nyu reminded him to tell Yuka something important. "Yuka, I need you to bring some girls clothes" he firmly tells her. Yuka is confused. "Why?" responds to his statement. "Just do it." Kouta answers. He ends the cell phone conversation and head back to the inn to see if Nyu came back. "If Nyu came back, should I apologize to her?"

Kouta reaches the inn and sees Nyu in a humble and submissive posture. Nyu did not notice that Kouta was here. Kouta's mind brought up the moment when Nyu was smiling when she broke the shell. That moment seem to imprint his mind and his mood switch to a disregarding attitude. He walks to the main entrance, ignoring Nyu in the process. Nyu sees Kouta and tries to get his attention by giving angelic facial expressions, but it had no effect. Just when Kouta unlocks the shoji door with the key, Nyu mewls. The sweet mewl sound too adorable for Kouta to ignore and breaks Kouta's icy heart. The innocent mewl did have a second meaning for Kouta. It is a representation of her apology. Kouta turns around and sees Nyu unraveling the seashell from her right hand. Kouta sees how Nyu fought the acerbic weather just to find the seashell and seeking forgiveness. Nyu kneels and shivers from the cold, gustal wind that blew on her. Kouta touches Nyu's hand and felt her rough, freezing skin. "You are shivering" Kouta upsettingly tells her. "I should have not yelled at you and it is my fault to." Nyu seem to acknowledge Kouta's words and out of the blue, Kouta gave her a warm hug. Nyu personally want Kouta to hug her and gotten that wish.

Nyu sneeze and stares at the empty living room. Kouta tries to find a suitable attire to replace the wet undershirt Nyu is currently wearing. Kouta sees the undershirt that soak onto Nyu's chest, revealing the outline of her well-developed breasts. He begins to blush and prepares to do the inevitable. After an interminable seven minutes of instructing Nyu to change her clothes without avoid eye contact to her breasts, Kouta begins his second step, to remove Nyu's blue green shorts. Kouta begins the count to three and when he finally said 'three', he removes her shorts and Nyu said, 'Nyu' with glee excitement. Apparently, Yuka open the shoji door and sees Kouta performing this embarrassing action.


	3. Initial Recognition

In an instant, Yuka slaps Kouta on his right cheek. "What the heck is this, Kouta?" Yuka barks at him. Kouta struggles to process his mind, finding the words to explain to her. Yuka's slap causes Kouta to become angry as his head is steaming from the pain. "Don't you dare slap me again!" Kouta aggressively retaliates. Yuka felt the psychological pain and apologize to Kouta for her sudden anger. Yuka used to know the 'old Kouta' during her childhood years. He was very polite and kind to those around him, but his family's murder somehow affected his personality. Even his complete evaluation at the mental ward had a contribution to his changed character in a more contemptuous way.

Half an hour passes by; Kouta calms himself and tells Yuka about his strange encounter when he first met Nyu. Yuka compiles her mind on how it all went and understands. "Do you try calling the police?" Yuka asks. "I will, but it is still raining outside" Kouta quickly answers. "I will call the authorities tomorrow." Yuka stares at Nyu, wandering around the kitchen. "Nyu does need to take a shower and I presume that she does not know how to." Kouta adds. "I'll go take care of Nyu." Yuka replies. A lengthy shower took place and when Nyu came out from the hot tub, her hair gives a sensual scent of strawberry, somewhat attracting Kouta's attention. When Yuka assist Nyu on how to take a bath, Kouta structures a sleeping bag and a pillow in one of the bedrooms for Nyu. Kouta shows her the way to the bedroom and when she sees it, a smile appears on her face. "You can sleep here for the night." Kouta sweetly tells Nyu. She was tucked in and beams directly at Kouta's eyes in an appeal of timid innocence. Kouta ignores the eye contact, slightly disappointed Nyu, but when Kouta closes the door, she executes a dragging 'nyu' sound. Kouta notes that Nyu is afraid of pure darkness.

Kouta finds a nightlight and plugs in to the electrical outlet while Nyu said 'nyu nyu'. This implies that she said 'thank you'. "Just get some rest, Nyu and tomorrow, I will have to send you to the police so you can go back home." When Kouta left, she felt concerned that Kouta may neglect her and that he does _not even_ want to have her here at all. Though Kouta had accepted the seashell to replace the original, it was not enough for Kouta to fully forgive her and, in some extent, to love her. A lengthy tear was produce and begins to sob, hoping that Kouta will let her stay with him, forever.

The next morning, Nyu wakes up and wants to see Kouta. She opens the living room and sees Kouta having a cold. Yuka is at the supermarket, buying groceries and medicine for him. Initially, she gives out a cheerful 'nyu' expression, indicating that she can stay here at the inn a bit longer. She walks to Kouta to see what's wrong and when he wakes up, seeing Nyu in a close proximity to his face as if she was about to kiss him. In Kouta's view, it was an awkward intimacy and Nyu could have dream weird thoughts. "Water, I need some water" Kouta weakly speaks to Nyu, screeching his voice in the process. "Wa-ter?" Nyu asks in a slow pronunciation pace. It was a sudden breakthrough for Kouta. He was really glad that Nyu can say a different word or trying to say a different word besides saying 'nyu' over and over, still, he did like the cute sound that she makes every time she said 'nyu'. "Yes, the water is at the kitchen" Kouta answers with a bit more optimistic mood. She nods with confidence and went to the kitchen, making a horrific mess in the process. She returns back from the kitchen and she gives him a yellow sandal. Kouta is a bit frustrated at first, but he returns a smile instead, thanking her for trying to help him.

Yuka did not return back from the supermarket for the last thirty minutes. Kouta got a water bottle for himself and Nyu finds an amusement of spectating him, even when he sleeps. In one point, Kouta did have a nightmare of his family's murder and the killer reveals a bit more of its characteristics. He breaths irregularly and rapidly, causing Nyu to worry about him. Nyu screams 'nyuuuuuu nyuuuuuu' in an attempt to wake him up. Unexpectedly, Kouta turns and grips Nyu's right breast, mistaken as a water bottle. She jumped back, yelling 'nyu' in the process. Kouta wakes up, knowing that he made a terrible mistake. "So-sorry" Kouta convincingly apologize to her. Nyu was blushed from Kouta's grip, but the grip somehow felt pleasurable. 'Nyuu' she said in an aroused state. She grabs Kouta's left hand and presses it to her right breast. Nyu wanted the same pleasure experience that she just had as she rubs his hand back and forth. Kouta immediately withdraw his hand away from Nyu and walks to the main entrance. Nyu is upset that she wants to fulfill the same experience twice and sees Kouta watching the cherry blossom via the window. In her view, this is another example of Kouta's 'neglect' on satisfying her needs. Kouta was smart enough to evade a potential catastrophic outcome if Yuka returned from the supermarket.

Yuka still _had not_ returned from the supermarket, fifteen minutes after Kouta's awkward moment with Nyu. Kouta went back to bed and continues to rest while Nyu secretly searches his backpack in the kitchen. She found something interesting; it was a music box. The name _Lithium_ shiningly labels in a golden plate, appealing Nyu's curiosity. She opens the lid and the music plays out with a beautiful melody. Suddenly, Nyu froze to a state of shock as her headache returns. The Lucy personality wants to emerge, but Nyu refuses, compressing her head very hard. Lucy remembers the melody from the _Lithium_ music box to someone she loves in her childhood while Nyu is in a disadvantage position, walking backwards in the process. Nyu slips on the three step stairs, hitting her head on the wooden floor. She has lost her battle against Lucy, submitting the body to her.

Lucy's original plan was to kill the innkeeper and occupy the place. Lucy searches the inn to find the innkeeper and she finally found him. He was sleeping and did not notice of her presence. She takes the opportunity to use her vectors and prepares to strikes, but the innkeeper turns around and when Lucy identifies him, she constrains her vectors quickly enough so these would not harm him. It was Kouta as the innkeeper. This was a shock for her, unexpectedly meeting him nine years later. Since her murder on Kouta's family, she cannot control her vectors on killing the inhabitants for five years, resulting of thousands of people killed by Lucy. She was captured three years ago by Kurama, but escaped, hoping to complete her ultimate objective of wiping out humanity and replacing with the diclonius race. Seeing Kouta as a young adult traumatized Lucy as she claimed that he is the 'last line of innocence' for Lucy. Knowing that Kouta may not accept her apology of murdering his family, she is about to leave the inn. "Kouta…" Lucy whispers to herself, not wanting to awake him. By the time Kouta wakes up, Lucy/Nyu is not in the inn.


	4. Neglect

**(Kurama sends diclonius Number Seven, known as Nana to 'convince' Lucy to come back to the facility. Lucy vigilantly refuses and the fight between the two ensued. The fight scene and the outcome is the same as the manga/anime though Mayu did not witness the fighting and Mayu will NOT be in this fanfiction. Kurama, himself, intervenes and tells Lucy that he will never forgive her sinful actions against Nana and humanity. Lucy escapes from Kurama and the SAT. The scene begins when Kouta tries to find Lucy/Nyu).**

Kouta took a short break from searching Nyu as he stares at the small pond. He dreams that he was with Kanae and Yuka back in the childhood years, throwing small rocks at the water and enjoying life. Kouta's daydream is abrupt when a recognized and obvious voice is heard. 'Nyuuuuuuuuu' she cried. It sounds more of a cry, most likely that she got injured. Nyu begins to shred tears and sprints to him, hugging tightly around his body in the process. "I assume that you got lost" Kouta said to Nyu, patting her gently in the back of her head. Kouta's soft pats convinced Nyu to hug him tighter. "You should have not walked around without telling me." Nyu acknowledged and said 'nyu' twice, an indication meaning 'I understood'. Kouta spots a small cut in Nyu's shoulders and removes his handkerchief from his pocket. There, he patches the cut, but she was about to touch it. "Don't, just leave it as it is." "It is time to head back to the inn, Nyu." Kouta gently grabs her soft, left hand and the two walk together back home. Nyu is blushed, feeling the impact of Kouta's gentleness and hugs his right shoulder.

Yuka sees the pair coming via the back entrance. "Where have you been Kouta?" Yuka asks him with aggressive concern. "I was searching for Nyu." Kouta logically answers with confidence, praying that she will not hit him. "Apparently, she got lost near the cemetery." Yuka and Kouta know what the cemetery was dedicated to. The cemetery contains the victims, who were killed by the unknown murderer for the last five years. Ironically, the murderer was Lucy, using her vectors to burst human blood vessels, killing the victim within minutes. Kouta did recall some of the victims by their occupancies that ranged from police officers to ordinary family members. Nyu listens to the conversation between the pair, discussing about the cemetery and its portrayal. She had a brief shock, seemingly acknowledging that Lucy is about to emerge again, but Yuka notices Nyu's mental state, though she thinks that Nyu had a headache. "Nyu, I think that you need to have a warm shower" Yuka states. "I'll give some new clothes to wear after you are done."

When Nyu is at the hot tub, Kouta and Yuka were discussing about what to do with Nyu. "It is quite odd for Nyu to just show up with no clothes" Kouta tells Yuka with grave concern. "In my humble opinion, I personally believe that Nyu may have been neglected from her family or had amnesia." Yuka agrees with Kouta's view. "When I was at the supermarket, there were two police officers that were looking for Nyu" Yuka said. "The two showed me a photograph of Nyu and I told them that we have Nyu for safekeeping." "The two police officers are coming tomorrow to pick her up and told us to not let Nyu get loose." The last sentence surprises Kouta, noting the last part. Just as Kouta is about to speak, Nyu opens the door and is naked, wanting to surprise him. The 'nyu' sound blasted throughout the quiet living room. Kouta sees Nyu covering with soap bubbles in certain body parts, except her voluptuous breasts. Yuka furiously drags Nyu to the hot tub, in a mist of jealously. "It is not polite to show up naked in front of a man, Nyu" Yuka attentively use her anger at her. "Use your manners!" The next hour, Yuka puts Nyu to sleep and when Kouta checks to make sure if she sleeps, he hears her snores replaced by 'nyu', sound like a kitten saying 'meow' to its owner.

The next day, Yuka dresses Nyu in a blue sweater with light green skirt and her long red-pink hair straighten down with two blue ribbons covering her horns. She look suitable, and wears age appropriate attire so that Kouta would not have to experience her being naked around him or wearing transparent clothing that could expose the breasts. "We are going outside for a walk, Nyu" Kouta said. "Nyuu!" she said with great enthusiasm. "Not nyuu" he states. Nyu stares at him with her eyes widening, but then she shuts them and said, "Yes!" in a very obnoxious, yet dainty voice. Yuka takes a surprise and notes how she is slowly getting her memory back. The three opens the entrance door and spots something unexpectedly. It was the two cops with an armored police transport vehicle behind them.

"Thank you for taking care of this stupor teenager" the tall cop told Kouta. The other officer is observing Nyu, staring at her with bitter despise though Kouta did not pay attention to it. "A concerned citizen is always a good citizen." Nyu interrupted the conversation when she gave Kouta a pickled cherry blossom piece and smiled. "Thanks, Nyu" Kouta said calmingly, not wanting to make Nyu worry. He knows that Nyu will have to be taken back to her family, even if she likes it or not. "Officer, take care of her when you send her home" Kouta quietly tells the tall officer. "Of course" he answers, staring at his watch and notes that he is late for something. Yuka waves at Kouta. "Time to go, Kouta!" she shouts in a distance. Nyu hears Kouta's name and runs toward him, but the other officer grabs her shoulder and holds her so she cannot run. Nyu's happiness changed in a second to disquiet. Nyu's worse fear is becoming true. When Kouta walks towards Yuka, he turns around seeing Nyu disconcert expression mixed with sadness. "Take care, Nyu" he said to her. As he walks away, Nyu tries to speak but cannot since she can only say one word. Out of the blue, she said something that will imprint Kouta's mind. "Kouta!" Nyu yells. It was a shockwave for Kouta. For the first time since he found Nyu, she finally said his name. Kouta momentarily froze, but he continues to walk forward. Each time she said his name, her emotions is highly noticeable, up to the point that she cried and screamed his name until she runs out of breath to continue shouting.

The two officers see Yuka and Kouta out of their vision. "You need to shut up!" the second officer bawl at Nyu. He throws Nyu at the back of the transport vehicle which is disguised, fooling Kouta and Yuka. The transport vehicle belongs to the Diclonius Research Facility. Nyu begins to scream, but he shuts the door. The pair enters the front of the car and drives to the local university where Kouta and Yuka are currently attending. Nyu begins to bewail over Kouta 'abandoning' over to the two officers and the probability of being abused. Nyu crawls to the small, caged window that shows the two officers. She screams at their ears and the second officer is already annoyed with Nyu's high pitch. "Be quiet, you devil!" the second officer shouts at Nyu as he grabs the tranquilizer pistol and shoots her, three times. The darts impales Nyu in the right shoulder, the chest, and the chin. She lost conscious and fell obediently to the ground. "That's right you bastard, shut your damn mouth!" When they reached the university, the duo drags her to a research room where she is tied up. Professor Kakuzawa enters the room, seeing the officers tying up Nyu. She is awake from begins shot by tranquilizer darts and continue to say 'nyu' over and over in a submissive tone. The Professor chuckles and grabs the tranquilizer pistol, shooting Nyu in the head. She fell unconscious. "Ignorant bitch" Professor Kakuzawa said to her with no empathy. He walks to the medical cabinet, grabbing a few propofol injections to ensure that Nyu will not wake up.


	5. Unconditional Acceptance

**(The scene between Professor Kakuzawa and Lucy is the same as it was in the anime version. Lucy is awake and kills Professor Kakuzawa even when he shows his 'mutation' to her. The scene begins when Lucy finds the two officers who abducted her.)**

"Revenge is beautiful" Lucy tells the tall officer as he struggles to ease the pain she inflicted. The officer's right arm was sliced off and the officer seals his fate. Lucy decapitates the officer and walks to the second officer, who abused her during the abduction. The second officer defiantly stands his ground, shooting the remaining tranquilizer darts at her, but was deflected. He ran out of options, but his last resort was to use his .357 magnum, which Lucy cannot withstand its tremendous firepower. Lucy sees him and uses her vectors to 'pull' his two hands as blood sprayed all over the pure, white walls. The second officer fell to the ground, knowing that he will not live and fiercely barks at Lucy. "Damn you to hell!" Lucy stares at him and in a second, she kills him. Blood stains cover most of the laboratory room. She has nowhere to go and the only she knows is the inn where Kouta lives.

When Lucy/Nyu was 'sent home', Kouta and Yuka took a lengthy walk and went to a restaurant. The two had a good time, up to the point that Kouta forgotten about Nyu. "Kouta, I got to get something at the university" Yuka tells him. "I'll be back in around an hour or so." Kouta acknowledged and watches her leave the restaurant. When he got out of the restaurant, the breezy afternoon shivers him and speed walk to the inn. As he reaches the inn, he sees someone. The individual has long, straight pink hair with two ribbons on her head, and wearing a blue cotton sweater with a light green skirt. It was Nyu.

Lucy hesitates to enter the inn. Eventually, she will have to tell the truth to Kouta, but this is not the best time. She did hear Kouta calling 'Nyu', but it was obvious that he was calling her. She ignores his calls and walk away. "Nyu, how did you come back?" Kouta asks her, pressing her right shoulder to get her attention. "That's right, I forgot that you cannot communicate since you know only one word." The comment offended Lucy as she flings his hand away. "What are you talking about?" Lucy replies in her low, emotionally indifferent voice. This is the first time that Kouta hears Nyu speak complete sentences, but she walks away. "Wait, where are you going?" Kouta asks. "I am going home" Lucy answers. "I remember everything." "I must say farewell." Her comments anger Kouta. "If you say farewell, then why you did even came back here?!" Kouta barks at her. "Go home if you have your memory back!" The two comments stun Lucy, froze in a state of shock. There were two reasons why Lucy is stunned by this. One reason is that Lucy has no home and the other is how Kouta shows his aggression to her. She remembers him in her memories as a gentle friend who actually cared for her, not judging her horns. Now, she felt guilty, holding accountable for her part that changed Kouta's personality to a bitter person. If she had not killed his family, he would still be the 'old Kouta' that she knew. Kouta took a few breaths and walk to the inn entrance. "Before you head home, I'll make you some food."

Kouta finish cooking fried flounder fish and steamed rice, placing the plate on the table so Lucy can eat. She did not even touch the food at all, staring at the food and did not make eye contact to Kouta. Lucy produced rapid tears as the two sat in awkward silence until Lucy breaks down. "I…I do not have a home" she weeps, admitting the truth to him. Kouta was not surprised on what she said. He did recall the first encounter with her when she had no clothes and shivered from the freezing rain, assuming that someone abandoned her or ran away from 'home'. Kouta did felt sympathetic for her, but he hesitated. "Kouta, I..am..sorry." After she said it, he begins to experience another violent hallucination of the murder. In this hallucination, Kouta cried aloud, carrying his sister's body. Kouta's chest felt immense pain, but he got out of his hallucination when he applies pressure to the chest with his right hand. By the time he escapes his daytime nightmare, he sees her face buried by her hands. As she releases her hands and raised her head, she gleamed that she saw Kouta. "Kouta?" Nyu innocently asks as if she sees a longtime friend. "Kouta!" It was an instant emotion of sorrow to happiness. She begins to hug him, but he backed off, trying to regain his regular breathing tempo from his illusion. "Hug me, Kouta, hug me" she begged. Kouta submissively hugs her. It was not a tight hug that Nyu want. As he hugs her, Nyu had a recollection between the young Kouta and Lucy. The two were splashing the pond water at each other, enjoying the pastime together. This memory had a direct effect on Nyu's sensitive hug. Nyu begins to sorrow and finally knew that Kouta and herself had a close connection in the past. "Kouta…" This time, Nyu hugs Kouta tighter and not the other way around. She did not have her selfish ways like she had before. For Kouta, he is slightly disappointed that Nyu _have to_ stay here at the inn. He wanted her out of the inn because of one characteristic, her horns. Kouta knew that the murderer has horns on the forehead, but he cannot verify that Nyu was the one responsible for killing his family because she displays innocence, and knowing that she had no part of the killing. It was a display of passive discrimination because of Nyu's noticeable characteristics from other humans, but it was an unconditional acceptance of letting Nyu stay here, indefinitely. Kouta let go of Nyu and walks to his bedroom, locking the door so he can't be bothered.

A couple of hours pass by. Yuka changed Nyu's clothing. Her new attire is a pink undershirt with a red apron, including a yellow leg-length skirt designed for housekeeping. Nyu wore a green pajama hat. If looking at her in a distance, she looks like one of Santa's little helpers. Nyu begins to speak simple sentences and communicate better among Kouta and Yuka. Nyu went outside and takes a fresh air while the two were discussing about Nyu's updated situation and the grisly discovery at the university. "The crime scene is very disgusting" Yuka tells him, feeling sick for seeing the blood and gore that splattered across the laboratory room. Kouta did not like to talk about crime scenes or anything that relate to murders since the topic implies similarly to the family's murder. "Let it go, Yuka" Kouta states with utterly despise. "It could be an accident." Nyu smiles and gave Kouta another piece of the pickled cherry blossom. "Thank you, Nyu." She nods with satisfaction, wanting Kouta to be happy.

All of a sudden, a doorbell rang out. It was very strange for someone to ring the doorbell at the late hours. "I will go get the door" Kouta tells the two. He opens the door and sees a girl that has horns on her forehead, that it was similar to Nyu's. It was Nana who is searching for Lucy. "I am sorry to interrupt you" Nana tells him passively. "I am looking for someone name Lucy." As Kouta is about to tell Nana that he does not know "Lucy", Nyu sneak behind him and about to give Kouta a surprise back hug. Nana instantly detects her, knowing that it is Lucy who sadistically ripped off her arms and legs two days ago. It is an opportunity for revenge and the suffering she went through. Nana pushes Kouta out of way and violently wrestles Nyu.


	6. Feelings

Nana grapples Nyu and throws her at the dining room door, knocking her down as the door collapse on top of Nyu. Nana was not done yet of fulfilling her own revengeful satisfaction. She grabs the semi-conscious Nyu once again and smashes her head down on the low-level dinner table, breaking the table in half in the process. A tremendous pain quickly follows. Nyu struggles to gain back up and briefly lost conscious. The Lucy personality wants to emerge and fight Nana, but Kouta is present at the time. If Lucy emerges and start harming or killing Nana, it will unlock Kouta's identity of who murdered his family. She wants to avoid it, therefore, Lucy did not emerge until Nana is out of the inn or when Kouta is not in Lucy's vicinity so she can violently attack, just like how she did with thousands of humans. Nyu takes and endure the pain, seeing Kouta throwing Nana out of the inn and threatening her to leave. Nana ran away to the market district, crying and to ease her emotions before challenging Lucy once more. "Kouta" Nyu squeak to him. Afterwards, she fainted.

Lucy emerges and sees that she was on a bed with a small, moist towel over her forehead. Kouta observes her, directly giving eye contact to her eyes for the first time. Lucy cannot make eye contact to Kouta mainly because it leads to sensitivity of her true feelings for him. She is a mass murderer and kill human beings without thought; it is an instinct for her to survive in this world. Another part of Lucy is her regret of killing Kouta's family due to jealousy, a jealousy that is carried too far. "Get some rest, Nyu" Kouta speaks in a soft voice. "I will be here in this spot until you are feeling better." Kouta holds her hand, leading further Lucy's sensitivity of showing compassion to him, a very rare emotion she uses since his last appearance nine years ago. Lucy begins to fell asleep and reminisce the hidden past that she had with Kouta.

**(The dream sequence is exactly like the anime version; therefore, there is no point for me to write the dream sequence in full detail.)**

Lucy wakes up from her dream and notices that Kouta was not in the room where she rested. He already broke the promise that he will be here, but it did not matter anyway. Lucy walks to see Kouta and sees him staring at the cherry blossom tree. Her first goal was to find Nana and to strike her without attracting attention from Kouta. Before she heads out, she eavesdropping Yuka's phone conversation with someone, most likely a family member. "Kouta is fine, mom" Yuka states firmly. "No, he did not have suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide since the psychological evaluation." There was a brief moment of silence. "He changed a lot even when he got out of the mental ward." "His personality is beginning to downfall and I feared that he will rampage when he will find the person who is responsible for the murder." Her mother said something to him and Lucy cannot encode on what her mother said to Yuka. "I believe that showing compassion and love to him _might_ bring the 'old Kouta' back as it was nine years ago." Lucy cannot continue to hear the conversation and condemned herself for the murder. For the first time ever, Lucy begins to feel remorseful for what she has done, besides her killing on Kanae and Kouta's father. She loves him with all of her heart, but her violent actions will _not_ convince him to accept her apology. She left the inn and sees Nana waiting for her to come out.

Nana sees Lucy in tears and hesitates to fight her. "Why are you with the two humans?" Nana asks her. Lucy stares silently at Nana and tears still drop from her fragile eyes. Nana continues to rant at Lucy. "You killed any human that you see with no hesitation." "Unlike you, I will not kill _anyone_ unless someone important to me is put in harm's way." "If you want to end the killings, then _stop it already!" _The last three words bombshell Lucy as she remembers Kouta yelling at her with those words, telling her to stop further killing. Lucy's headache returns and kneels to ease the pain. Kouta sees Lucy kneeling to stop the headache though he thought that it was a symptom of a fever. When he puts his right hand on her shoulder, Nyu emerges. "Kouta?" she tearfully asks him. Tears soon fell from her eyes as Kouta note that she still has a high fever. Out of the ordinary, Nyu jumps and hug Kouta expressing her irrational love to him. "Kouta, Kouta!" Nyu said his name in a weeping voice. "I love, I love Kouta!" "Kouta!" This continues for a few minutes as Nana observes Lucy loves the young male human named Kouta. Nana accepts that there are two personalities that share the same body though her job is to kill Lucy from doing any further harm to humans. Kouta asks Nana if Nyu and she are related. Nana forged a story that they were related by siblings and that Nyu is supposed to come back 'home'. Kouta accepts her story and allows her to stay overnight.

Yuka, Kouta, and Nana were discussing about Nyu's most updated situation while Nyu sneaks around Kouta's bedroom, snooping around. Nyu opens one of the desk's drawers and sees something interesting. It is a Clot Python .357 magnum with a note on the bottom. In Nyu's usual curiosity, she reads the note. The note states: _An eye for an eye._ In an obvious manner, she did not know what the phrase means and focuses on the .357 magnum. She picks up the magnum and zooms in the caliber with her right eye. Nyu pulls the trigger and nothing happens. "Nyuu!" she screams with excitement. She likes the magnum and would like to keep it, but realizes that the gun belongs to Kouta. Respecting his property, Nyu puts back the magnum and the note back to the desk drawer.

The time is past midnight and Kouta needs to have some rest. He went to his room and prepares to fall asleep. Out of the blue, Nyu abruptly opens the door and Kouta sees her in a happy mood. "Nyuu!" she said, meaning hello in Kouta's understanding. He is concerned why Nyu is entering her room. Nyu climbs to his bed and 'crept' behind him, snuggling his back in the process. Kouta begins to feel blushed by Nyu's intimate move. He did not want her to be in his room. Initially he told her to leave and go to sleep in her own bedroom. Nyu refuses and wants to sleep next to Kouta. She wanted love from Kouta, but it is the opposite. Kouta feels that Nyu is becoming a nuisance for interrupting his sleep. "Get out!" he yells at her, already annoyed with her refusal to leave his room. Nyu defiantly stand her ground and made her next, intimate move. She presses her breasts on Kouta's back, leading him to further submission of letting her stay with him. Nyu begins to weep from his threat of forcing her to leave the room. He can still smell the strawberry flavored shampoo that Nyu uses for her hair. "I am sorry that I yelled at you, Nyu" Kouta apologize to her. She smiles and leans towards him. It was a tight back hug and Kouta experience his first intimacy with Nyu as she already declares her love for him, though he doubts if Nyu know what love is. Either way, Kouta allows her to sleep next to him, for one night only…or a few more. Who knows? By the time she snores with 'nyuu' sounds, he spots that someone open his desk drawer. He already knew that it is Nyu that 'broke in' to his private material.


	7. An Apology of Two Meanings

In the early morning hours, Kouta sneaks out of bed so he cannot disturb her sleep and her adorable 'nyuu' snores. Kouta sat on his desk chair and opens the desk drawer, loading the magnum with all 6 rounds on the cylinder. Kouta got up and points the magnum directly at Nyu's head at point blank range. She is still sleeping and snoring with chaste manner. Kouta's mind cannot handle the thought of killing someone. He did not even have a clue why he even points the magnum at Nyu in the first place. It could be the thought of her horns that urged him to do so. Nyu's horns are similar to the murderer. Kouta felt the sweat from his forehead and puts the magnum back to the desk drawer. The thought of killing Nyu would damage his psychological mind for good and for the first time ever in his life, he begins to fall in love with Nyu.

After a quick breakfast, Nana sees Kouta staring at the picture of his sister. "Who is the person in the picture?" Nana asks him with slight concern. Nyu enter the kitchen and sees Kouta talking about his deceased sister. "The person is my younger sister, Kanae." Kouta sadly answers to Nana's question. "She and my father were murdered nine years ago and I witnessed it." Nyu sees Kouta in deep depression and expresses grave concern. "Yuka saved my life from committing suicide and I thank her for helping me." There was a brief moment of silence. "For some reason, I always felt remorse for not saving their lives; I could have done something." "It is too late for me to apologize to Kanae." After Kouta's short, depressing speech, Nyu steps up and tries to communicate to him, though it was a struggle to her. "Kouta, pl-please, do not, cr-cr" Nyu said in a struggle to speak the last syllable. "Do not cry Kouta!" The speech took an effect on her sensitive heart. Nyu grabs Kouta's left arm and hugs it with both of her hands. Kouta did not understand why Nyu think that he was crying. Nyu did understand that he suffered depression, but Kouta did not even produce tears when telling Nana what happen to his sister. "I am not even crying, Nyu" Kouta tells her, trying to stop her from worrying. Nyu examines the photograph of Kanae and begins to produce tears. A sudden flash of the young Kouta carrying his sister's body impacted her. The Lucy personality is about to burst out of her body. Nyu begins to feel weak from the Lucy personality trying to breakout, struggling to keep breathing tempo to normal. Even Nana knows that the Lucy personality is about to emerge.

All of a sudden, Nyu grabs a scissor and runs away. "Nyu, where are you going?" Kouta asks aloud in an urgent attempt to stop Nyu from running. Nyu sprints away and Kouta begins to search around the inn's interior to find her, but she is nowhere to be found. Kouta went outside and walk to the cherry blossom tree near the backdoor. There, he sees Nyu sitting on the grass in a crouch position. He is surprised that Nyu is cutting her long, beautiful hair! Kouta is about to tell Nyu to stop cutting her hair. "Nyu!" Kouta screams at her to stop cutting her hair, though it is already too late to stop her. "Nyu.." She turns around quickly. "I am not Nyu" she declares. Nyu walks towards Kouta in an act that she is Kanae, his murdered sister. "Kanae forgives." "Forgive Kouta! Forgive!" When Kouta look at Nyu's new haircut, another hallucination consumes his mind. In this hallucination, the young Kouta was hanging out with the girl that has pink hair and wears a blue, wool winter hat to cover her horns. Kouta backs out from the hallucination and speculates if Nyu and the young girl in his vision is the same person. "Nyu.." he tells her in a low voice, expressing concern.

Unfortunately, Nyu interrupts Kouta and continues to speak broken grammar. "Kouta sad face, not good" Nyu states in an upsetting tone. "I'm sorry." When she said it, Kouta recalls the scene when Nyu broke the seashell that represents a memento of Kanae. Kouta note that Nyu did not formally apologize to him for breaking it in the first. "I see what is bothering you, Nyu" Kouta confirms on why Nyu is apologizing for, smiling at her in the process so she can feel better. She continues to say 'I'm sorry' until saying it once more, but with direct eye contact to him. There were tears producing from her eyes. Kouta did not like Nyu's crying because she cries very often since he found her at the inn's entrance door, though he feels benign for her. "I'm...sorry" she said to him once more, but in a cracking voice. Another vision that Nyu sees is the young Kouta crying over his sister's corpse, who was ripped in half. When Kouta thought Nyu is apologizing for breaking the seashell, the apology is actually for his sister's grisly death, but Kouta did not note that. The Lucy personality is on the verge to consume over the body, in a frenzied attempt to tell Kouta that she, for Lucy personality, to say sorry. In a last bid of resistance, Nyu begins to scream and uses both of her hands to suppress the pain. Kouta hugs Nyu, which surprises her and cease the emergence of Lucy. "For some odd reason, I feel like that I have remembered you when we were children" Kouta states. "I _love you_ too." That phrase cause Nyu to feel strong affections towards him and embraces. Yuka overhead the conversation and runs away.

After Kouta's declaration of his love to Nyu, Nana tells Kouta that she has to do something. Shortly afterwards, Nana runs to the market district and this will be the last time that Kouta sees her. A few hours passes by, Kouta is gravely concerned of where Nana went. "Nyu, stay at this inn" he tells her. He had a terrible feeling that Nana may have been kidnapped as he rushes to his room and grabs his Colt Python .357 magnum. Kouta went outside, but Nyu follows him. "Nyu, I told you to stay at the inn." "I want to go." Nyu tells him. "Damn it Nyu, I said for you to stay at the inn!" Kouta hollers at her, warning her that the destination he will be going would be dangerous. He did not scream at her for her clumsiness; he only wants Nyu to be safe. Nyu stop following him, seeing him running to the market district. As soon as Kouta is not in her eyesight, Nyu follows him.


	8. Darkest Sin

**(A fight between Nana and diclonius Number 35, known as Mariko occurs. Kurama tells Mariko that he is the father, leading Mariko to weep and ends the fighting against Nana. The police and small SAT units create blockade around the city so that the inhabitants would be 'safe'. Mariko, Kurama, and the SAT wait at the bridge for further orders from Chief Kakuzawa. Nana felt upset that Kurama is not his 'Papa' but she still cares for him and still keeps the main goal to kill Lucy) **

Nyu cannot catch up to Kouta has he already reaches the top end of the market district. There is a blockade between the market district exit and the bridge. The last thing Nyu sees Kouta was when he tries to bypass a blockade of two police vehicles, consist of six cops and four SAT members. Nyu tries to squeeze through the tight crowd. Suddenly, she is grabbed by one of the uncovered SAT members, disguised as an ordinary businessman. She was thrown at the back of the armored vehicle and the SAT drives to the bridge, where Kurama and the others were waiting for further news. Shirakawa, who is Kurama's subordinate, picks up her cell phone after it vibrates. After Shirakawa listens to the caller for fifteen seconds, she nods to Kurama, noting that the SAT has captured Lucy and is on the way to the bridge.

The disguised SAT member drags Nyu out of the armored vehicle and pins her down on the concrete road. The other SAT members suppress Nyu with their boots against her body while one of them presses his right boot against her head. "Nyuu, nyuu" she said in tremendous pain with attempted appeal of innocent cries. The others did not care for her suffering. "The irony that you feel pain from boots while you rip off body parts from human begins that did _not_ even harm you in any shape or form!" Kurama barks at her. "You will deserve to die for you unforgivable sin!" "The mass murdering diclonius Lucy, must die!" Kurama walks away and adjust his glasses. "Fire at will!" The five SAT members who press their boots on Nyu aims their assault rifles on her head and pulls the trigger in full automatic fire.

The automatic fire lasted for seven seconds. By the end, Nyu's head was not even scratch from rounds, but one area had an impact. It is one of her horns that fell out from her head. Nyu lost conscious and did not respond when SAT members poke their rifles at her body to see if she is communicative. Kurama still feels angry that Lucy is not dead. Briefly after the unsuccessful execution, Chief Kakuzawa orders the group to send Lucy back to the facility. Reluctant, Kurama obeys the Chief's order and command the squad to put Lucy on the armored carrier. Just when the SAT locks the backdoor of the carrier, Lucy breaks it and the loss of one of her horns reveals the most gruesome side the group faced.

Lucy uses her vectors to slice off nearly all of the SAT members, including Shirakawa, in less than five seconds. There is no method to stop her, but Mariko steps in front of Lucy and prepares for a faceoff. The faceoff is easily in Lucy's side as Mariko struggles to constrict Lucy to use her vectors. Mariko felt weak and surrenders to Lucy, but Lucy notices Shirakawa's cell phone is a manual bomb detonation and picks it up with her hand. Kurama did not know that Shirakawa put explosives on Mariko's wheelchair. "I will make you a deal" Lucy said coldly, strangling Mariko at the same time. "I will give her back to you and you will let me live without being chased from any of you guys." Kurama cannot let Lucy go freely and wipe out the human race, but he will not let her kill Mariko. He nods and Lucy let Mariko go, putting her back on the wheelchair. "Daddy" Mariko said to her father, putting all of her remaining strength to push the wheelchair. "Mariko…" Kurama replies. When Mariko is very close to Kurama and about to give her father a hug, Lucy expresses an evil grin and laughs hysterically. "See you in hell!" Lucy yells at the two. Lucy detonates the cell phone, witnessing the wheelchair exploded as the gulfing flames consume Kurama and Mariko. Nana feels the impact of the explosion and the gusting force pushes her off the bridge, falling to the water. Lucy watches the flames and continues to laugh at the deaths of Kurama and Mariko.

Suddenly, the headache attacks her mind and cringes to the damaged concrete road. The headache transmits from Lucy to Nyu. Nyu emerges and stares at the corpses, destroyed vehicles, and the unmerciful flames that are in front of her. A gunshot is heard as the bullet hits her left shoulder. The bullet that penetrate against Nyu impacted her with immerse pain. "Nyuu!" she screams with agonized pain. Nyu turns around to see who shot her and a traumatized shock is shown on her face. The person holds the .357 magnum and stares at her eyes with no emotions. It was Kouta that shot her.


	9. Bittersweet Revenge

"Nyuu…" she said to Kouta, in attempt that the whole catastrophe was not her fault. Kouta witness her detonating the cell phone that killed the gentleman and his daughter, including Nana, who falls at the water though her fate is unknown. The moment that caused Kouta to pull out his Colt Python .357 magnum was when Lucy/Nyu was laughing at their miserable death. Nyu walks toward him in a very slow pace. "Kouta…" Nyu said to him. He fires the second round, hitting Nyu on the right arm. She fumbles, but did not stop the bleeding from her right arm and continues to approach Kouta. Every step Nyu takes, he becomes angrier. A third round is fired from the magnum, hitting Nyu in the right thigh. Nyu fell to the concrete road and begins to crawl, leaving a trail of blood. "Kouta…"

The thought of shooting Nyu is utterly disturbing, but he definitely knows now that she is the one who murdered his family. Revenge _is_ everything. He vows the promise that killing the murderer will restore his sanity and end the ultimate objective of killing the murderer. How can Nyu, who display childlike manners and innocence, kill his family? How! Kouta recalls the moment when Nyu cuts her hair, resembling Kanae and Lucy/Nyu when they first met. Tears fell from his eyes. Kouta sees Nyu reaching her right hand and grips his left ankle. "Kouta…" Nyu begs for mercy and coughs up blood. He did not hesitate and punts Nyu in the face. She fell backward and endures the pain. Kouta fires the fourth round at Nyu's left leg, definitely made her crippled. Out of the blue, Nyu has a headache and her personality change to Lucy.

Lucy sees Kouta pointing the magnum onto her forehead at point blank range. Lucy did not react of using her vectors because she loves Kouta with all of her heart. He deserves the right to be angry, even allowing him to harm her body. It is her fault for killing his family for a stupid reason. Blood begins to stream from her mouth and tries to begin talking to him. "An eye for an eye, it is time for you to die!" Kouta firmly states the phrase with horrifying confidence, up to the point that Lucy is afraid of him. "Kouta..let me explain" Lucy beseeches to Kouta for permitting her to talk. Kouta's emotion is indifferent, just like herself when she killed thousands of people in the last eight years. Tremendous guilt consumes her heart, implying that her influences had impacted Kouta's emotional change. "You don't need to explain!" Kouta barks at her like an abusive pet owner. "You killed my family because of jealousy!" Just after he finishes the sentence, he begins to experience mental breakdown. Seeing Kouta experiencing a terrible breakdown tore her heart further. "You don't have to apologize because you are too late for it!" Kouta grabs his magnum and points it to his own forehead. He is about to commit suicide. Lucy cannot afford to let Kouta take his own life, noting that he attempted suicide before. She uses one of her vectors and defects Kouta's magnum from his hand. Kouta expresses rage and unsatisfied, leaping towards Lucy and begins to strangle her.

"Kouta..please" Lucy struggle to counter his gripping strength. "I _will_ get my revenge for what you have done!" Kouta screams at her, though he cracks his voice at the end. Kouta presses his both hands further down onto Lucy's neck. Nyu emerges from the body. "Kouta…I'm sorry" Nyu said to him. "Damn you!" he counters against Nyu's apology. Kouta constricts her neck further, entrapping Lucy's desperation to breathe. "Die Nyu, die!" He still has the belief of revenge and witness Lucy/Nyu detonating the cell phone that killed Kurama, Mariko, and probably Nana. "Please..Kouta..I'm..so..so" Nyu lost her breathing when Kouta's stranglehold reaches to its maximum. A hallucination consumes Kouta's mind, seeing the young Lucy and Kouta having a fun time at the zoo. Kouta let go of his hands from Lucy/Nyu's neck and cries wildly. Lucy recaptures the body and sees Kouta crying, just like when he cried over his sister's body. She sat down on the road in deepest regret, awaiting Kouta to finish releasing his unease emotions.

Kouta's emotional release last for three minutes and restores his sanity, temporarily. "What made you become like this?" Kouta ask her in a despise manner. "I was bullied because of my horns" Lucy answers, not making eye contact at Kouta. "I have been bullied for all of my childhood until we met at the forest near the orphanage." "Since then, you were so kind to me and the memories of us together; I cherish them." "When I asked you if your cousin is a boy or a girl, you answered that it is a boy." "I thought you were honest to me, but when I came to the festival to tell you how much you care for me, you were hugging your female cousin." "I felt heartbroken because of the lie and felt betrayed." Kouta rebutted this. "I lied to you that my cousin is a boy, because I do not want to hurt your feelings" Kouta firmly states. "She is my cousin, not a personal relationship girlfriend." "Even if I told you the truth that my cousin is a girl, you would kill my family to release your anger anyway!" Kouta was right; Lucy would have killed his family in a rage even if he is honest. Her reasoning failed to convince Kouta. "I really do love you back from our childhood, but now, your sadistic killings cannot justify an apology." "I even saw you killed the gentleman and his young daughter without a thought of morals!" Lucy begins to cry and tries to suppress her sadness in order to keep apologizing to Kouta. "I really am sorry for what I have done, I really am!" Lucy begs. Kouta gives a sharp eye at her, an easy indication that her apology is clearly ineffective.

"I won't accept your apology!" Kouta retaliates. "Not just for me, but for thousands of victims that you killed!" "Tell the victim's family members that you are sorry!" "Oh I forgot; I bet that you have killed them too!" Kouta's verbal abuse takes a psychological toll on Lucy. He calms down and sees Lucy psychologically unable to handle the verbal abuse. Kouta notes that he carried too far, but she deserves it. "If you commit yourself to refrain from further action that will harm anyone, I will let you come back to the inn and we can live together." A military transport hovers above Kouta and Lucy. The SAT members zip down the rope, landing on the road and sprints toward Kouta and Lucy. She sees the SAT members rushing towards them and is about to use her vectors. Kouta spots a sharp eye from Lucy, an indication that she is about to attack them. Kouta points his magnum at Lucy and shoots her two times in the stomach and empties the magnum shells from the cylinder. "This is for my younger sister and for my father!" "You will _never_ learn of when to end killing!" Kouta walks away from her, passing SAT members who were holding heavy weaponry and assault rifles. Lucy cries aloud and tells him that she promise that she will not harm anyone again. He continues to walk without looking back and not want to look at her execution. The SAT members setup three .50 caliber machine gun and the rest were aiming at Lucy with their rifles as she is clutching her wound in the stomach. Lucy stares at the SAT members and accepts her fate. "Fire at will!" the SAT commander orders the soldiers. The sound of rattling gunfire lasted for a minute and Lucy's second horn broke off from her forehead. Kouta's revenge is complete.

Kouta froze for a brief moment after the gunfire ceases, but continues to walk to the beach. He sees Nana, still alive and breathing though semi-conscious. "Is Lucy..gone?" Nana asks Kouta. He looks at her and nods, verifying that Lucy is executed for her actions. Kouta picks up Nana and the two walk to the inn entrance. Yuka opens the door and sees Kouta carrying Nana as if the two just got out of the battlefield. "Where's Nyu?" Yuka ask Kouta with grave concern. "I killed her" Kouta said to her heartlessly though he did not actually killed her. He wanted to kill Lucy/Nyu for personal satisfaction and revenge, but he cannot bring himself of doing so. Yuka sees the emotionless Kouta and lets him enter the inn without saying another word. When he steps in the entrance, a single drop of tear fell from his watery eyes, an indication that he begins to regret.


	10. A Familiar Visitor

Six months after Lucy/Nyu's death, life at the inn is somewhat normal. Kouta and Yuka take care of Nana, though she expresses depression of the loss of 'Papa' and Mariko. Kouta looks at the seashell Nyu gave to him. He recalls a brief memory of Nyu giving the seashell to him in the shivering cold, then a sudden flash of himself shooting her in the stomach. "Justice is best served cold" Kouta said to himself. Yuka enters his bedroom and tells him that lunch is ready. The trio enters the dining room and ate in total silence. Nana describes Kouta as a satisfied revenger, but feels a sense of remorse of Nyu's death. She died in an intense hail of gun fire. He did not tell Yuka why he 'killed' Nyu though Yuka create a possible scenario in her mind that 'Nyu' was the one who murdered his family, but got amnesia prior to Kouta's first encounter with her at the inn entrance. Yuka includes that 'Nyu' had damaged her own brain to forget her sin against Kouta. The previous statement Yuka thought is completely absurd. Nana also notes that she was trying to lure Kouta to fall in love with her, but he defects Yuka's approach. Nana describes Yuka, after Nyu's execution, as a failing seducer who tries to love Kouta and blames him for everything. Yuka is a bit cynical and an argument took place a few days ago that Kouta threatens Yuka to leave the inn.

The doorbell rang throughout the inn. "I'll get it" Kouta said to the two. He puts on his sandals and walks toward the main entrance door. He took a breath and opens it. He sees a woman with a hood on, unable to identify who she is. "Hello" the young woman starts the conversation. "Hi, are you lost?" Kouta asks to the woman with minor confusion. The woman had another intention of coming to the inn. "No, I am looking for Kouta" she answers differently. "I am Kouta ma'am" he states with minor concern. The young woman raises her head and removes the hood. "Do you remember me?" she asks. Kouta sees the young woman have lengthy pink hair and the face structure is similar to what Kouta had shot six months ago. This cannot be. She was supposed to die. "..Nyu?" Kouta said in a shocking state. The only difference is that the woman does not have horns. "It's not Nyu anymore, my actual name is Kaede" she tells him. In his honest feelings, he wanted her dead permanently due to the fact that peace was actually restored in his hometown. After Lucy/Nyu was 'executed', crime rate dropped by 70% to an all-time low. The majority of the Kamakura Area inhabitants do not know why this drop rate just happens; only Kouta knows. It was 'Nyu' that killed thousands of people in the past decade. Her being dead is better for the Kamakura community. Kouta would have told Kaede about his true feelings, but he remembers that she commits to keep the promise of upholding further killings six months ago. "Nyu, I mean Kaede, I thought you were dead" he tells her. Kaede gave him direct eye contact and tells him that she will explain to him, if he lets her enter the inn's entrance. Kouta allows Kaede to enter the inn's entrance and the first thing she did was giving him a warm hug. "Kouta…I really changed" Kaede tells him somewhat in a brighter attitude. Kouta's reaction to her statement is indifferent and still holds a grudge against Kaede. He doubts that Kaede did not kill anyone between the six months and today, particularly on her 'supposed execution'. Kouta shoves Kaede away and asks her how she escaped her execution in an aggressive tone. She promises him that she will explain what happen, but she is hungry. Kouta allows Kaede to enter the inn and she feels safer from the outside world. Kamakura Area is now a relatively peaceful place, but an old threat still exists against Kaede…and even Kouta.


	11. Between Then and Now

_Kouta shot her twice in the stomach as the SAT members were rushing to the scene. The magnum rounds establish an unbearable outcome of pain. Lucy felt betrayed twice; the first one was when Kouta was comforting Yuka when they were young and the second was Kouta shooting her. She won't blame him for shooting at her. An eye for an eye; this is what she gets for killing his family. She sees the SAT members setting up bipods for the .50 caliber machine guns, the guns that she cannot resist, even when using her vectors. Lucy is going to be killed, but there is something that prevents her to do so. When the SAT fires all of the firepower at Lucy, her vectors were released to shield her from the intolerable .50 caliber rounds. The rounds did not penetrate through her body, but the firepower 'pushed' her back. A lucky .50 caliber round strikes her second horn and broke off. She fell from the bridge and to the watery abyss. She is supposed to die; she even wants to die! Why are her vectors preventing her from being killed?! This is what Kouta wanted, her being killed because of her sins!_

"You actually wanted to be killed because you felt guilty for what you have done?" Kouta asks, reinitiating on when the SAT were firing at her. Kaede takes a sip of green tea and puts the teacup down on the plate. "Yes, but it is also for you to fulfill your revengeful feelings against me" Kaede states to him. "What you said back then, you were right." Kouta did not respond to her submissive agreement though he acknowledges that she has deserved the punishment. "What happened after you fell at the bridge?" he asks Kaede. She continues on her story. 

_Her body begins to float back to the surface. She takes deep breaths and looks around where she is. She spots a sandy land nearby and begins to swim there. As she got there, she is on a different area of the beach. It was not the one where she first steps on Kamakura after her escape from the facility; she is on the other side of city. There was a patch of temporal forest in front of her and is about to approach to it, but her headache strikes suddenly. The Nyu personality wants to consume the body, but the headache is much stronger, as if a major development is about to occur. Lucy screams with misery and the other personality consumes the body. It is not the Nyu personality though it is more than that. The Nyu personality was developed when a sniper fires a single .50 caliber round against the metallic helmet she wore during the escape from the Diclonius Research Facility. The Nyu personality is actually an ideological personality of what she would have been when being around with humans._

"The Nyu personality is the one I was with at the inn before the incident?" Kouta asks. "That is correct" Kaede answers to his question, somewhat in a shameful mood. "I remembered the Nyu personality as a very innocent and idiotic simultaneously" Kouta states with a mist of contradictory. When he said it, he felt a mixture of guilt and utter sadness. "I did not like Nyu mainly because I see your horns." "It represents you killing my family in front of me." Kaede did not react to his factual statements. "Would you still kill me when I was in the 'Nyu' personality?" Kaede questions him with utter sadness. There is no reaction from Kouta when she asks this question. "No, I would not kill Nyu, only discipline" Kouta replies back to Kaede's question. She interprets the word 'discipline' as enduring Kouta's rage and his expressional release of negative emotions against her. "Continue."

_The new personality is not neither Lucy nor Nyu. A third and original personality has risen deep from her body. Kaede finally emerged. The last time she consumes the body was nine years ago, just after she saw Kouta hugging Yuka to ease her uncomforted feelings of departure. Kaede foolishly and submissively accepts the 'DNA voice' to wipe out humanity and releasing her sadness and anger to those who are worthless by all means of killing them without any moral thought. _

When Kaede admits on what she has done, Kouta suddenly strangle her neck with his left hand and pulls out his magnum out with his right hand and points at her forehead. This is similar to what he has done six months ago. "Do you feel lucky, Kaede?!" he barks at her. "You survived your execution!" "Well, do you?!" Kaede did not simply let Kouta attack her just like six months ago. She slaps Kouta and pushes him away from her, but expresses guilt for doing so. In retaliation, he smacks her across the face with his right arm in full force. He could have used his magnum, but he refrain of using violence in the inn. Kaede compresses the pain he inflicted and begins to develop tears. "You do not need to tell me the rest of the story." "I assumed that you did not kill anyone because you 'love' me so much." "The Nyu personality is a part of you, not a complete separation of your personality." Kouta took a deep breath. "I am sorry that I have attacked you all of a sudden." "The description you have told me is causing a disturbance for my mind." Kaede came up and hugs him. "I am sorry for what I have just done" he apologizes. "However, I will not guarantee that I will be nice to you, it will take a while for me to fully accept you for being a part of the inn."

Kaede is the original personality and the 'matured' Nyu state. She knew that it will take a while for him to allow her to be around him. She loves him dearly and puts her atonement in full effect. Kouta wants to move on, and so does she, but she wants to keep some important parts of the past in her memory and wants to represents the love and kindness between the pair. Unfortunately, Kaede's representations and symbolism of the past will hinder Kouta.


	12. A Broken Symbol

Kouta informs Yuka and Nana that Kaede/Nyu has returned to the inn. Yuka is disappointed by this announcement, mainly because she sees Kaede/Nyu as an obstacle of being in love with Kouta. Yuka somehow acknowledges that she is the one who killed Kouta's family besides that Kouta told her that he killed Nyu six months ago. Nana has mixed reactions to Kouta's announcement. The first reaction is devastation. Nana thought that Kouta actually executed her to death. Did he let her lived? Lucy is the one who killed 'Papa' and Mariko! She _needs_ to die! The second reaction is the realization that her horns were gone. Nana theorized that Kouta had shot her horns, but this cannot be proven. The thought of how Lucy's horns were 'removed' from her head had an effect on behavior stuns Nana. She needs to investigate.

Yuka stomps her way to Kaede and gravely warns her. "If you dare of killing Kouta, I will rip your head off with no thought!" Yuka barks at her, grabbing her ragged and dirty green shirt. Kouta intervenes and slaps Yuka's gripping hand away from Kaede. Before Kouta perform this action, he wonders if Kaede was homeless in the past six months, but this concern should not be important at the moment. "Why are you protecting her, Kouta?!" Yuka yells closely at his ears. Kouta shoves her to the wall. "Shut your damn mouth!" Kouta retaliates. This is the only answer that he can give to her. His other reasoning is complicated to explain to Yuka, and even Nana. "Just let it go and allow her to stay at the inn." Yuka stares vigilantly at Kaede like a high tech security camera. Kaede follows Kouta to the living room.

The pair sat on a crisscross position as Kouta unravels his blue backpack. He removes the _Lithium_ music box that contains the seashell. Kouta takes the seashell out of the music box as the two stares at it with remorse. "I remembered when I gave you the seashell, Kouta" Kaede reminisced the first day when the two were 'reunited'. Kaede did not say another word after that. Kouta clearly remembers when Nyu broke the seashell. She did not _just_ give him the seashell; she did it in atonement for breaking it in the first place. What made Kouta pissed off is her lack of remembrance in _why_ she gave him the seashell. In his point of view, Kaede is plain ignorant and her failure to understanding why the seashell is important to him. In a mist of anger, he breaks the seashell in half. This action shocks Kaede very much. "Kouta, why?" Kaede asks in an upsetting tone. The first step of eliminating the terrible past is complete. Kouta feels refreshed from this action as if an individual is baptized from sin. He gave her a sharp look. "I want to forget about the past and move on" Kouta partially tells the truth to her. Kaede knew that Kouta is not fully telling her the truth and Kouta catches her doubtful expression.

"You did not understand the _significance _of the seashell!" "It is a representation of my sister that you had murdered!" Kaede doubtful expression is immediately wiped out from her face. "I even told you about it back then, but you broke it in half!" "I cannot believe it that you can't remember _why_ you gave me the seashell in the first place." Kouta begins to experience a minor breakdown. "Tell me Kaede, why you gave me the seashell back then?!" Kaede answers immediately. "I wanted you to feel better for what I have done." "I broke the seashell mainly because I saw you in depression and the belief that the seashell is a burden for you." Kouta finally understands why she did it, though he knew it before but needs testimonial proof. He drops the seashell on the floor and leaves the living room. Kaede weeps out of control. The visual aspect of Kouta breaking the seashell in front of her and the sound of its cracking traumatized her. She knew that it is wrong for her to break the seashell in the first place, but the replaced seashell is the symbolism of Nyu's apology. It is now clear that the seashell apology is ineffective. Kaede did recall an incident that she cuts her own hair to represent Kanae to allow Kouta to forgive himself and metaphorically forgive Kanae. In a brief moment, Kaede realized that she did not apologized to Kouta for the seashell _at all_. The incident is the apology of killing Kanae and his father. She feels stupid for cutting her own hair back then. How stupid is she.

Kaede sees the _Lithium_ music box that Kouta left. An idea just pops in her mind. She finally knows what to do in order to preserve the love and kindness between Kouta and herself. The grandfather clock was broken when she first encountered Kouta at the inn. The _Lithium _music box and the grandfather clock interests Kaede and finally knows what to do.


	13. Intrusion of the Past

"Dinnertime, Kaede!" Kouta hollers throughout the inn. The last time he saw Kaede was at the living room, still staring at the split seashell. Kaede runs to the dining room where the trio was already eating their food without Kaede. It was an awkward moment for her to join with them for dinner. Kouta has a moderate level of hatred against her, but there is a possibility that he may reduce the hatred and care for her. Yuka has a very high level of hatred and Kaede would like to avoid Yuka as much as possible. Nana is a different story. Kaede cannot remember who Nana was at all. Every time Kaede stares at Nana, she treats Nana like a stranger.

In Nana's perspective, Kaede is a reincarnation of Lucy/Nyu. In broader terms, Kaede is the pure and loving form of Lucy/Nyu. Kaede wants to have compassion and love, particularly from Kouta. A new beginning for her, but Nana _will_ prevent this from happening due to the fact that Nana _still_ feel a presence of evil inside of her. It could be Lucy, but the Lucy state is much weaker than before in such events like the first battle at the cemetery. Is Kaede suppressing the Lucy personality? Nana's answer is yes.

Yuka and Nana finishes their dish earlier than Kouta and the two heads to the kitchen to cleanup. There were plenty of oddly silences in the dining room as neither Kouta nor Kaede spoke to each other. Yuka came out of the kitchen and suddenly smacks the back of Kaede's head with her hand. Kaede's head lands on a bowl of rice and got back up. She tries to maintain her unease temper against Yuka. Kouta is furious on what Yuka has done to Kaede. He got up and smacks Yuka twice in the face. "Do not hit Kaede anymore, Yuka!" Kouta screech at her. Yuka psychologically feels Kouta's retaliation and cannot react to it. "If you put your hands on her in any shape or form of harm, I will remove you from the inn!" Yuka ran away from the inn and cries hysterically. In Kaede's honest feelings, Kouta did have an indication that he still cares for her. "Just finish up your food and get some rest." Kaede quickly finishes her meal and went to the bedroom where she slept six months ago. The room is preserved for her and tucks in on a sleeping bag.

On the desk, there were photos of Lucy during her imprisonment and x-ray radiographs of her body. Chief Kakuzawa is impatient of finding Lucy. Six months ago, he almost had Lucy, but Lucy escapes from the convoy and kills the entire SAT unit, including Kurama and Shirakawa and the second best diclonius, Clone 35, or known as Mariko. It is unfortunate that his closely associated subordinates were killed, but he did not care about their lives. Lucy _is_ the main goal and he is willing to put every of his plans to capture her and reproduce in order to wipe out the _Homo Sapien_ race. Chief Kakuzawa contacts one of his top hitman to handle the job. What Chief Kakuzawa does not know is that the hitman wants to kill the target, _not_ capture it.

The incident at the bridge concerns the Japanese government, removing SAT units away from Chief Kakuzawa for failing to concern of their lives and safety. Another note is the government's notable false flags against Chief Kakuzawa for unethical methods of experimenting subjects, though none of government officials know what experimental subjects they were. The only source the government has is from Shirakawa, who was killed by Lucy during the bridge incident. Unfortunately, Shirakawa only gave the government by Lucy's name. Military units from all branches are in moderate alert to counter against Chief Kakuzawa's hidden agenda and Lucy, whom neither of the officials knows what she looks like.

The next morning, Kaede feels refreshed from a good night sleep. However, something is not right. She feels an object is on her forehead, like something is inside her head. Kaede looks at the bedroom mirror and scrape up her hair to see what is going on. She finally finds the cause of it. This cannot be! Kaede's horns are growing back! Her new horns are one inches each. Lucky for Kaede, she can hide her horns by covering them with her beautiful pink hair. The sudden appearance of her horns growing back is a grave concern. Between six months ago and the present, there are no signs of horn growth, but Kaede theorized a hypothesis. Is there a connection between Yuka's smacking against her head and horn growth? Kaede determines the answer. Every physical violence or physical abuse against Kaede increases the length of her horns. Yuka's physical abuse is the reemergence of her horns. Her answer is, unfortunately, a potential answer. Kaede did not want her horns to grow back as it symbolizes, in her point of view, violence and the instinct to kill. As long that Kaede does not experience further violence or abuse, she can move on with her life. Kouta enters the bedroom and sees Kaede looking at the mirror with utter disgust. "Come with me" Kouta tells her. Kaede changes her dirty green shirt to the attire that she wore six months ago, the red apron and the leg-length yellow skirt along with the green pajama hat. Kaede follows him outside of the inn and the two begin walking at the trail.

Kaede does not know where the two are going, but the pathway is similar six months ago. The pathway leads to the cemetery, where Nana and Lucy first fought. Memories from the fighting suppress her mind. Eventually, the two reaches to the cemetery. Kouta grabs a few incense sticks and lights them with a lighter. Kouta gave Kaede one of the incense sticks. "Apologize to the dead, Kaede" Kouta tells her. It is obviously clear that Kouta still remembers about the cemetery. Hundreds of tombstones are aligned in rows, all of which the victims were killed by Lucy during the hiding for six years after she killed his family. Kaede puts the incense in front of a tombstone. The tombstone labels a twenty-three year old female college graduate, who became a police officer. She was killed in the line of duty when she tries to free a hostage from Lucy, but Lucy kills both the hostage and the officer. Lucy got away from the killing and there was a shockwave across the Kamakura community. Newspapers and television newscast broadcast the young and beautiful police officer who was killed, but never found out who did. Kouta realizes that Kaede was the one who did it because of the description a witness gave to the media, before the witness was murdered by Kaede/Lucy shortly after the witness gave all the information of what the suspect looks like. "I am sorry for what I have done to you" Kaede whispers. Kouta gave her more incense sticks and 'forces' Kaede to apologize for the rest of those who were killed by her. The apology to each tombstone lasted for a couple of hours until Kaede stops at the 267th tombstone. From then, Kaede cries aloud and said sorry. This is what Kouta wants to hear from Kaede, apologies to those who were killed by her and the acceptance of what she has done. What caused Kaede to cry aloud was the victim's age in the 267th tombstone. The victim was a fifteen year old boy. There were plenty of more tombstones for Kaede to apologize, but Kouta notes that Kaede and himself has been outside for too long from the decreasing cold temperatures. Winter is approaching. "We have to go, Kaede" Kouta said to Kaede, who covers her crying face with both of her hands. "We'll come to the cemetery later."

Chief Kakuzawa gave the hitman a photo of Lucy and imprints the image to his mind. From there, the hitman aboard the helicopter and drops him off at the beach. He looks at his watch and begins walking to the market district, carrying a black bag that contains disassemble parts of the M40 sniper rifle. He did not want to capture Lucy; he wants to kill her. The hitman's identity is not known to Chief Kakuzawa, but the government knows who he is. The 'hitman' is an agent who is undercover to infiltrate Kakuzawa's agenda and to assassinate Lucy to save humanity, even if he has to butcher Lucy to save mankind.


	14. Reemergence

In the afternoon, Kaede asks Kouta if she can borrow his bicycle and his helmet. Kaede's reasons is seeking some fresh air, and exploring outside of the inn. Her reasons are half-truth. Kaede does want to seek fresh air, but another reason was actually to avoid Yuka. In every hour since the pair returned from the cemetery, she would not even know when Yuka would burst out and potentially strike against her. Kouta permits Kaede to use his bicycle and helmet, setting her free away from Yuka. Kaede puts on the helmet and begins to peddle the gears. The last thing Kouta sees Kaede was her heading eastward, where there is a small lake and a 250 foot wooden bridge surrounded by temporal forests.

The bike riding experience feels great for Kaede. She rarely goes bike riding and it would be better if going with Kouta. Kaede continues to peddle the gears as she sees a wooden bridge and a small lake underneath it. All of a sudden, Kaede sees a baby Oriental Turtle Dove lying on a nest with no mother in sight. The nest is inside a small bush, located on the left side of the bridge. Kaede gets off from the bicycle and walks toward the isolated baby bird. She gently grabs the bird and pets it. "You need to get some warmth, little birdie" Kaede whispers. "I am going to take you to the inn." The bird flies away from her hands. Kaede thought that the bird is afraid, but that was not the reason. The next moment, a .308 round smashes through the bicycle helmet and went through her skull. The helmet flew away from Kaede as her body slides down through the small rocky hill and her head bashes on one of the large rocks.

The hitman successfully strikes his target with one hundred percent precision. He is sure that Lucy died, but he needs verification. That diclonius bastard deserves that shot. He begins to disassemble his M40 sniper rifle and puts the parts back to the black bag. He pulls out his silenced M9 Beretta pistol and a combat knife, just in case if he has to fight Lucy. Before he exposes out of his sniping spot in the temporal forest, he hears a voice, a male voice. "Kaede, where are you?" Kouta yells, creating a small echo in the area. The hitman now has second thoughts. Now, he believes that he shot the wrong person and thinks that the person is not even a diclonius at all. However, it is clear that the person he shot has pink hair. Who else has pink hair? The gentleman, however, is calling Kaede, not Lucy. "Damn it!" he said to himself. The hitman has to leave his position. He would never know if the person who he shot actually dies, but he needs to leave immediately.

Kaede wakes up from a mild concussion. Luckily, the .308 round did not actually penetrate through her skull, though it was a close one. The .308 round actually hit the very top of the helmet and never hit her skull, at all. The round went through the helmet, but misses the skull, and now the helmet has a hole on it due to the .308 round. Kaede touches her head to make sure that noting actually impacted her head, but she touches something on her forehead. The structure has a pointy tip on the top, on both sides. This cannot be! Her horns are exposed and emerged back to its normal size! Kaede's horns have returned! Kaede is not happy about it at all. This is due to 'excessive violence' from an attempted assassination and her head hitting a large rock. She needs to get rid of these horns, but her headache returns for the first time since the aftermath of the bridge incident. The body is being replaced to a returning personality.

Kouta sees a bicycle lying down on the concrete path, abandoned and lifeless. Kaede is nearby somewhere in the vicinity. He walks towards the left side of the bridge and leans over the handle to see if she fell. He sees Kaede gripping her head and believes that she must have hit her head when she tripped over her bike, but he does not know that there was someone that tried to assassinate her. Kouta carefully slides down the small, rocky hill and approaches to Kaede. When Kouta touches Kaede's right shoulder with his hand, she turns around and sees Kouta. The first thing she reacts is a surprise, as if she sees a longtime friend, and tears fell from her eyes. The facial expression is easily recognizable. It was Nyu.

Kouta immediately spots the newly grown horns on her head, shocking him with utter disturbance. She did not have horns when she is about to go biking, and now, she has them out of the blue?! The second concern is the 'reemergence' of Nyu. Kouta believes that Kaede might have fallen down on the rocky hill and hit her head on the large rock, which sat on the ground next to her. This could lead to a possibility of amnesia. "Kouta!" Nyu yells at him with joy. Nyu hugs and cuddles him, warming Kouta's heart. The bitter irony is that he easily recalls shooting Nyu, crippling her body to move further and shooting her in the stomach. This includes kicking her in the face when she begs for mercy. Now, Nyu submissively accepts Kouta as her 'lover'. She did not have any grudges against Kouta, which is unusually odd. He recalls Kaede's important sentence that Nyu is an ideological personality of herself and a part of Kaede.

Nyu continues to say his name while tightening her hug on him. Nyu misses Kouta very much, up to the point that Nyu would use her breasts to lust him and attempts to suckle his neck. "That is enough, Nyu" Kouta said to her, upholding perverted actions that Nyu is performing. Nyu continues to commit her arousing awkwardness on him. Kouta is not happy when she continues to do it and slaps her on her cheek. "Enough, Nyu!" he barks at her. "It would be a lot better if you stayed dead!" Kouta's brutal and honest opinions were unleashed against Nyu. "The community would be a lot happier if you died!" Kouta's verbal diction did not affect Nyu at all since she barely knew what Kouta is talking about, but she can tell based upon detecting emotional response. In Nyu's point of view, she thought that her perverted introduction on Kouta did not make him happy due to the belief that it is the wrong time to do this action. The best time for her to do it is when the pair is in bed together. The perverted thoughts excite Nyu very much, but Kouta is not happy about Nyu's arousing introduction. If Kouta have his magnum, he would have shot Nyu over and over until she is dead. Six headshots would have done the trick or more magnum rounds onto her head until his rage is over. Kouta suddenly had this violent thought and is temporarily stunned. Why does he have this thought?

Kouta should have not thought about it since he already wounded Nyu six months ago. In his mind, there is a correlation of witnessing 'Nyu' killing the gentleman and his daughter on the wheelchair and playing innocent. Kouta despise Nyu, who displays innocence while killing people who did not done anything wrong. Nyu resumes hugging him and suckling his neck, while griping his hand and tries rubbing his hand onto her left breast. This awkwardness just makes Kouta madder. Kouta slaps Nyu twice in the left cheek so hard that her left cheek turns dark pink from the pain. She immediately stops her perverted action and begins to apologize to him like an unforgiving child who would say sorry just to calm the person down. "Let's get back to the inn" Kouta said to her with mild anger. Kouta's slaps on Nyu's cheek had little effect on her to stop her perverted actions. Kouta picks up the bicycle and the helmet while Nyu is holding hands with Kouta when the two begins to walk to the inn. For Nyu, an opportunity of a new life begins.


	15. The End of Lithium

Yuka is amazed of how Kaede is now 'Nyu' since her horns has grown back. Nyu begins to sleepwalk yet holds Kouta's left arm. "She fell from her bicycle" Kouta tells Yuka in a low, quiet voice so that he won't disturb Nyu. Yuka sees the horns on her head. The reemergence of Kaede's horn disturbs her mind. Neither Kouta nor Yuka knows how did she 'grows' them. Nyu changes her attire to the white undershirt that she used to wear six months ago. Kouta puts Nyu to the sleeping bag in her bedroom, easily tucking her body through the bag. Nyu wakes up and see him tenderly patting her head. Kouta's gentle action on Nyu delights her and cuddles his right arm, treating like a stuffed animal. She wants him to sleep with her, but he left the bedroom without saying good night. Kouta went to his own bedroom and just went to sleep, without thinking further on Nyu's reemergence. When Kouta sleeps deeper, he has a dream about Nyu. At first the dream brings up the reminiscence between Kaede and Kouta when the two were having fun at the zoo and splashing water when they were kids. Another vision appears and this is between Nyu and Kouta, when she apologizes to him and giving her a hug. The dream did warm his heart, but he has a sudden imagery of himself shooting Nyu at the bridge. The magnum keeps firing at Nyu over and over while his younger sister, Kanae whispers to him. "Why did you not kill Nyu, brother?" she tells Kouta. "You _must_ kill her; you _must_!" Kouta abrupt his dream and wakes up while breathing very heavily in an irregular tempo. He looks at the digital clock, saying that the time is 7:15 A.M.

Kouta brushes his teeth and walks down the hallway. He sees Nyu working on the grandfather clock, instantly shocking him. Kouta's honest opinion about Nyu fixing the clock is negative. He does not think that Nyu cannot fix it since she is simple minded and ignorant. "Nyu, what on earth are you fixing the clock for?" Kouta asks her. Nyu turns to his right and exclaims 'nyuu' when she blinks. Her eyes were a pair of yellow, heavenly stars. When she blinks again, her eyes were crystal clear while blending with innocence. Kouta absolutely despise Nyu when she displays innocence in a situation when she did something wrong. However, Nyu is just trying to fix a clock. Therefore, there is no need to retaliate against her since Kouta secretly admits that Nyu is very cute. What Kouta does not know is that Nyu takes the _Lithium_ music box without his permission.

While Kouta is taking an exam at the university and Nana went to the market district, Nyu finally finishes fixing the clock and it was a success. The grandfather clock begins to tick and plays _Lithium_ at the same time. Nyu is delighted by this result and dances across the hallway to celebrate. Yuka sees Nyu dancing and wonder what is going on. She hears the _Lithium_ music playing from the grandfather clock, but sees Nyu hugging the clock and calling Kouta's name with embrace. It is clear that Nyu fix the clock to restore the relationship between Kouta and Kaede/Nyu, including expanding the relationship to a much higher level. Yuka needs to act and her wicked idea sprung from her mind.

Yuka pushes Nyu away from the clock and begins to drag it outside. Nyu tries to stop Yuka from taking away the clock, but Yuka punches her in the cheek. She fell down on the floor and struggles to get up as she tries to endure the pain Yuka caused. Yuka drops the grandfather clock on the entrance area and walks to the tooling shack. There, Yuka picks up an axe and swings her first move. Nyu hears the sounds of shattering mirrors on the grandfather clock and leaps at Yuka as she tries to swing the axe for the second time. Nyu wrestles Yuka on the dry, grassy lawn but struggles to handle her overwhelming strength. Yuka grabs Nyu's white undershirt and throws her at the tooling shack. Yuka locks the shack so that Nyu cannot stop her rampage to destroy the clock. Nyu hears the wood cracking and breaking apart as Yuka fiercely bash the clock with the axe over and over, and then Nyu begins to cry. Yuka unlocks the tooling shack and drags Nyu out, letting her see the destruction. Pieces of the wooden grandfather clock are stacked like a fireplace. "You see, Nyu, _never_ interfere with Kouta" Yuka whispers to Nyu's right ear, her head shaking with fear. Yuka lights a match and throws it at the wooden pile. Nyu tries to leap at the arising fire in order to preserve the _Lithium_ parts that she used, but Yuka pulls Nyu's lengthy pink hair. The pressure Yuka exerts drags Nyu down like an abused puppy being constrained by a pet owner who used a leash. The flames consume the wooden pieces and Nyu hears the _Lithium_ music 'melting'. This traumatizes her dramatically and Yuka slaps Nyu in the face to silence her. The worse will come when Kouta returns to the inn.

An hour later, Kouta finally returns to the inn. Yuka hides the ashes prior to his return. Nyu runs to Kouta and tries to 'tell' him that Yuka destroyed the grandfather clock, but Kouta suddenly asks her where the Lithium music box is. When he asks this anticipated question, Nyu feels guilty. Kouta reads Nyu's facial expression and knew that something is wrong. He asks her the question again, but in a mad attitude. Nyu cannot afford to upset Kouta, but it was already too late. She begins to cry and hugs him for forgiveness. Kouta asks Yuka where the music box is and she answers that Nyu threw it away. Yuka obviously lie to Kouta, but Nyu cannot answer to him since she lacks elementary vocabulary. "What do you mean by 'threw it away'?" Kouta asks Yuka, who is already mad. "Nyu used the _Lithium_ music box on the grandfather clock" Yuka quickly answers. "However, the grandfather clock does not work when Nyu tries to apply the music box to it." "Nyu is disappointed from this result and decides to throw it away." Nyu tries to 'tell' Kouta that Yuka is lying, but resulted in a failure. Kouta is furious and slaps Nyu's cheek over and over. "I hate you, Nyu!" Kouta screams at Nyu with most of his breath. "It would be a lot better if you have died at the bridge!" Kouta's incredible rants degraded Nyu and begin to cry aloud. She ran to the bedroom and cries there. For Yuka, she hopes that Kouta can get rid of Nyu. If this happen, Yuka will have another opportunity to lure Kouta fall in love with her. After a twenty minute of loud cries, Nyu weeps in despair and vows to stop Yuka from abusing her, but first, Nyu needs to tell Kouta that she is sorry for taking the _Lithium_ music box. For Kouta, the psychological damage is too grave. The _Lithium_ music box is the last object that represents the love between Kaede and Kouta, including the representation of the 'old Kouta', but the music box is gone, forever.


	16. Q&A Session One for EL: Alternate

Hello, the name is FreemanIsLegend, and I would like to say thank you for all of the support and those who enjoy reading this fanfiction so far. In this section, I will bring up Q&A to readers who maybe a bit confused or had some concerns about this debut fanfiction.

**Questions and Answers for Elfen Lied: Alternate… so far**

**Q: Do you, FreemanIsLegend, like Kaede/Lucy/Nyu, particularly Nyu?**

A: In my honest feelings, I had mixed reactions for Kaede/Lucy/Nyu. When I first watched the anime version of Elfen Lied, she was a very adorable character. I did cry in some parts of the show, particularly about her past when she was bullied from her peers and her affection towards Kouta. I did have sympathy of her since she should not deserve this bullying treatment. When it comes to Lucy, I immediately did not like her at all due to the fact that she just kills humans without a thought of mercy. I do understand that she had been treated miserably from humans, but this does not mean that she should just kill ordinary people with no remorse. For Nyu, I initially like her very much. She displays the childlike and innocent character. However, when I watched Elfen Lied more than twice, I realized that Nyu is _too_ innocent, way too innocent. This is up to the point that, in my opinion, is like she can get away from killing people and play 'I am innocent'. The manga version did a lot better of punishing Kaede/Lucy/Nyu for killing Kouta's family though the fanfiction that I had written does bring 'common sense'. Think about it. For an example, in the fight scene when Bando first fought against Lucy, she just tore off his arms and squished his eyes out. Many people think that Bando is a villain in the story. Bando is just doing his job of stopping the murderer who just killed 20+ security guards from the facility. Unfortunately, the Lucy personality is responsible for all of the killings against humanity. Nyu is a very adorable character, up to the point that you would want to cuddle her, but sometimes, Nyu needs to deserve the punishment for what she has done, even if Lucy is not present (this is what I have done in this fanfiction). The individual who did all of the killings must be punish.

**Q: Why did you made Kouta to shoot and strangle Nyu in Chapter 9: Bittersweet Revenge? You are a very mean person that absolutely hates Nyu so much...**

A: Chapter 9: Bittersweet Revenge did bring some concerns (and controversies) from readers. People would say to me, such as "You are very mean to Nyu" and all of these similar phrases. Recalling from chapter one, Kouta clearly states that he will find and kill the person who murdered his family. This is a commitment since he stabilizes his weak mind, in place of killing the murderer with his own hands. This fanfiction is more upon "actual scenarios" that could happen in real life. If you were Kouta and you actually witness Lucy killing your sister and father when you were young, would you accept her apology? Obviously, this is an absolute "no" answer and would want to get revenge. Think about it. This is usually common in films and literature. Someone killed your family or close friend and you would seek revenge. This is how human emotion is supposed to be.

First note, Kouta witnesses Lucy killing his family **in front of him** when he was young. Kouta is a child. Children around his age are the age of developing human nurture and social interaction around his age (including human development). Kouta's age in his childhood is the age of sensitivity (can be debatable). When seeing someone murdered in front of you in a young age, it can imprint the person's mind because the brain takes in a lot of information. Human nurture plays a large role in this fanficton, particularly in Kouta's revenge. It would not matter if Nyu is 'innocent' or not, the damage on Kouta's human nurture (not nature) is very high. This includes Kaede/Lucy/Nyu. She was bullied in the orphanage. If she was treated nicely from her peers back then, it is most likely that she won't commit murders and not becoming a monster. She could even ignore the 'DNA voice' who commands her to start attacking and killing people. The reason why I made Kouta shoots and strangles Nyu, because many characters in films and literature gets revenge in that way, by killing (or inflicting pain, in retaliation) the person who had caused misery to the victim. This is about revenge and the psychological damage Lucy caused against Kouta when he was a boy, leading to the release of his negative feelings out of his body that he had to carry for so long.

**Q: What are the symbols in Elfen Lied: Alternate from Chapter One to Fifteen?**

A: There are a few and significant symbols throughout this fanfiction. The first significant symbol is the seashell. The seashell represents a memento of Kanae, who was murdered (or killed) by Lucy. This is supposed to be the main representation until Nyu breaks the seashell in the first chapter. Nyu breaking the seashell in the first chapter is implied as the loss of Kanae. However, in Nyu's point of view, she thought that the seashell is a burden symbol of depression. Nyu ran away from the inn and went to the beach, crying and looking for another seashell that is similar to the original. This is mainly because Kouta was mad at her for breaking it in the first place. In atonement, she is willing to find another seashell during the cold rain. When Kouta sees the seashell in two, his memory processed it to the way how his Kanae was killed, which her body is split in two. In the seventh chapter, An Apology of Two Meanings, Nyu makes an apology to Kouta. Kouta thought that the apology meant for the broken seashell that she caused, but unfortunately it is not. The apology is metaphorically for killing Kanae and ruining his life. In chapter twelve, A Broken Symbol, Kouta breaks the seashell in front of Kaede. It can be an implication that it is an irony of retaliation against Kaede for breaking the original seashell. Since Kaede does not understand the significance of the seashell, Kouta is gravely disappointed by it since she said that she just gave the seashell to him. He also expects Kaede to understand that she gave the seashell in atonement, but Kaede did not make any reference to it at all. Ultimately, Kouta breaks the seashell is to move away from the past, but Kaede wants to preserves the seashell since it represents the past between Kouta and Kaede. For some readers, it can be imply that the broken seashell demonstrates the long term struggle of restoring the friendship and love between the pair.

The _Lithium_ music box is a very important piece, symbolizes the past between Kouta and Kaede. For more information, watch the anime. In terms of this fanfiction version of Elfen Lied, Nyu disassembles the music box into parts, including the grandfather clock. Kouta thought that Nyu is just fixing the grandfather clock, but doubts that she can fixed it since that Nyu is simple minded. Nyu finally assembles the pieces of the _Lithium_ music box and the grandfather clock, resulting that the grandfather clock being fixed and plays the tone at the same time. Nyu wants to surprise Kouta about her invention, but this ends in disaster. Yuka axed the clock in front of Nyu and burned it on fire, which tore her heart that is compared to when Kouta shot her six months ago. Yuka believes that the grandfather clock that plays _Lithium_ is a gift to Kouta that could restore (and deepen) the relationship between Kouta and Kaede/Nyu, which Yuka wants to prevent. The situation gets worse when Kouta tries to find the music box and Nyu 'tells' him that she disassembles the music box and places it on the grandfather clock without his permission. When Kouta asks Yuka on the whereabouts of the grandfather clock, she states that Nyu is not happy on the result of the clock and decides to throw it away (which is a lie). This lowers the love and kindness between Nyu and Kouta to an all time low. Unfortunately, Kouta does not know that Yuka was the one responsible for burning the grandfather clock. The _Lithium_ music box is the last object that represents that past, now destroyed by Yuka and ruined from Nyu.

Kouta's Colt Python .357 magnum is another symbol in Elfen Lied: Alternate. The magnum represents an expression of Kouta's hidden rage. There are two symbols for the magnum: suicide and the release of his anger against the killer. Many people wonder of how he had the magnum in the first place. This will be revealed later on in the story. Kouta attempted suicide once with his magnum before he was sent to the mental ward and the most recent suicide attempt was at the bridge in the chapter, Bittersweet Revenge, but Lucy defects the magnum away from his hand in an attempt to kill himself so she cannot apologize. The .357 rounds are highly effective against Lucy/Nyu, which are referenced in chapters, Unconditional Acceptance, Bittersweet Revenge, and Between Then and Now. After Nyu's 'death', Kouta still keeps the magnum, but when Kaede returns to the inn, the thoughts of using the magnum is shown in the chapter, Reemergence. The magnum can represents as a 'problem solver', meaning that killing Nyu will end Kouta's psychological misery. When Kouta had a violent thought of shooting Nyu over and over with his magnum, this can be implied that the magnum is a representation of releasing anger and hate.

Kaede/Lucy/Nyu's horns are the most important symbol throughout the story so far. Her horns represent identity and violence. She has horns on her head, which is a trait that represents her identity. Unfortunately, her horns are a target from bullying and harassment in her childhood. Kouta met Kaede and did not judge her horns, unlike the high majority who met her. More information about her horns, in regards to identity, can be shown by reading the manga or watching the anime. Violence is the second representation of her horns. Harassment and bitter judgment against Kaede resulted by using her vectors to kill the harassers. Despite that her vectors were used to kill anyone that degrades Kaede, she will later become apathetic to _any_ human individual, except for Kouta which she needs to apologize to him. More information can be from reading the manga or watching the anime.

**Q: Why is Yuka mad at Kaede between chapter eleven to fifteen?**

A: The answer to this question is highly complex though it is simple to explain. Prior to Kaede's return to the inn, Yuka tries to lure Kouta to fall in love with her, but this attempt failed many times. She thought that Kouta had feelings for Nyu, stirring jealousy in Yuka's heart. When the two were children, Yuka likes him and begins to have feelings for him. When she finds the pre-teenage Kouta attempt to commit suicide, she saved his life by calling the mental ward officials. At first she did not want to do this, but in order to restore his unstable mind back to normal, she had to. Kouta was released from the mental ward a year later and thank Yuka for stepping in to save his life. Yuka wants to be more rewarded from him, which is relational love from him. Time after time, Yuka occasionally punches Kouta for failing to recognize that she _actually_ loves him. When Nyu appears at the inn, Yuka did show a small level of jealousy that Nyu and Kouta might have a relationship. She ignores it since Nyu is, in her opinion, stupid, attention seeker, and not knowing what love is. When Nyu was 'killed' by Kouta (though he did not actually did it), Yuka finds a great opportunity to seek love from him, but this failed. When Kaede returns to the inn, Yuka is furious because Kaede ruined Kouta's life since the murder of his family and Kouta did not punish Kaede enough, up to the point that she is willing to do it in her own hands. Another reason is that she knows that Kouta and Kaede might fall in love and Yuka is willing to prevent that from happening.

**Q: What is the best description to describe the relationship between Kouta and Kaede/Lucy/Nyu from Chapter One to Fifteen (excluding childhood)?**

A: The relationship between the two is very, very complex. In the beginning, Kouta seems to allow her to stay, but she broke the seashell, which lowers the relationship. Another moment was when Kouta sees her horns for the first time, but unable to correlate the connection between the murder and Nyu. The relationship did increase when Kouta show care and occasionally affection towards her, but stopped when Kouta sends Nyu to the two disguised police officers. The climax is when Nyu apologized, in tears, to Kouta. This warms his heart and declares his caring for her. Despite of this positive emotional event, the relationship sank to the very bottom when Lucy killed Kurama and Mariko by detonating the explosives underneath the wheelchair. Kouta did not know that Lucy is a one-part personality and thought that Nyu actually killed them, though he did not see the transition from Lucy to Nyu. He shot Nyu multiple times and let the SAT members finish her off. When Kaede returns to the inn, his feelings for her are indifferent and have been since her 'death'. There were some negative moments between the two, particularly when Kouta breaks the seashell in front of her and slapping Nyu over and over to stop her perverted actions at him. The relationship turns worse when Nyu stole the _Lithium_ music box without his permission for her 'invention' on the grandfather clock, which was destroyed by Yuka. In the current state, the relationship between the pair is very rocky.

**Q: Last question: What caused Nyu to become…perverted? (Lets be mature here, folks)**

A: The source of Nyu becoming a pervert was in chapter three, Initial Recognition. In one scene, Nyu tries to wake Kouta up from his daytime nightmare, but Kouta accidentally grips Nyu's right breast, which is mistaken as a water bottle (he did not open his eyes when this occurred). The gripping did aroused Nyu and wants to get the same experience from Kouta twice, but he withheld it. The origin of Nyu becoming a pervert leads to debate in psychology-biology. Around Nyu's age (which is around 18-19 years old), her body already reaches puberty, but never experience relational love to someone. While the young Kaede did had feelings for Kouta, it was based upon friendship rather than personal relationship (in my point of view when it comes to the manga or anime version). Kouta was Kaede's only friend (besides Aiko) who cared for her. In most of Kaede's teenage years, she commits murders and experience isolation. Therefore, there is no affection or love she experienced. In chapter six, Feelings, Nyu presses her breasts onto Kouta's back body. Though it is not perverted, Nyu tries to express her 'feelings' as affection towards him since he let her stay at the inn indefinitely. In chapter fourteen, Reemergence, the Nyu personality returns and saw Kouta looking for her. The first thing she did was hugging him while rubbing her breasts onto his chest and suckling his neck. In Nyu's point of view, she really misses Kouta so much that she is willing to perform this highly perverted, awkward action at him. Nearly all of Nyu's perverted attempts at Kouta have failed though Nyu will not give up her oddly actions on him.

**If you have any questions about the story so far, you can message me the question and I will answer your question on the next Q&A session. Again, thank you for reading Elfen Lied: Alternate and Chapter 16 will be uploaded soon. Stay tuned.  
**


	17. Deterioration

_Slap_! That is the sound that is heard across the inn, and another follows shortly afterwards. Kouta drags Nyu out from her bedroom. If a random spectator sees this, it is obvious that the individual would call the authorities. "Get out of my inn, Nyu!" Kouta rants at her with direct confrontation. He has no remorse for what he just said. She destroyed his childhood, and his mental stability. The irony of his statement is that Kaede/Nyu suffers the most. Kouta did experience misery in his late childhood till now, but Kaede experience harassment, neglect, discrimination, and insults throughout her whole life. Sadly, Kouta is taken advantage over the innocent Nyu, but Yuka did not mind it due to the fact that she wants Kouta to remove Nyu, by all means necessary. "Kouta!" Nyu begs in complete submission. Kouta slaps Nyu in the back of her head with full force. "Die you bastard!" Kouta rages in an almighty retaliation. He bashes Nyu again with his palm. The sky begins to turn dark black as thunder roars in every ten seconds, an allegory of Kouta's release of his rage. The clouds begin to pour massive raindrops, just like the first day when Kouta met her in front of the inn, shivering in a fetal position and with no clothes on. He let Nyu seek shelter during that day, but this time, he is kicking Nyu out, for good.

Kouta drags Nyu by gripping the white undershirt that Nyu 'borrowed', treating her like a prisoner of war. "Kouta" she said in a very weak voice due to Kouta's physical abuse. He did not hesitate in hearing Nyu's attempted innocence like she _always_ had been doing. He threw Nyu's body as it strikes the stone pathway that connects the entrance door to the front entry. Heavy doses of rain strikes her body nonstop as Nyu struggles to get up her feet. "Kouta…" Nyu struggles to talk to him. She tries to tell him that it was not her fault that the grandfather clock is destroyed. It was Yuka in the first place, but realizes that it is her own fault for stealing the _Lithium_ music box without telling him. When Nyu is at the vicinity of reaching to Kouta, he shuts the door in front of her and locks it. This frightens Nyu, signaling that she will be neglected. Six months ago, she thought that she _is _neglected when Kouta send her to the two officers. She did not remember what happened to them and how she escaped. Today, she _is_ neglected. Nyu begins to scratch the wooden, shoji door with her finger nails but with no avail. Her last option is to appeal Kouta by making mewl sounds like before. This work before when Kouta initially ignores her when she retrieves a replaceable seashell. Nyu performs her mewl sounds, in her last desperate attempt to get his attention. Kouta opens the door and sees her wet and on the verge of collapsing from the freezing shower. He bashes Nyu in the head with his magnum, knocking her unconscious and shot her twice. "Just die.." Kouta said to himself, though it was meant for Nyu. He absolutely _hates_ Nyu mainly because she breaks symbolized objects that represent Kouta's past and, of course, killing his family. Kouta went back to the inn, locking all the entry doors. As he was locking the doors, the bitter and dreadful cold consumes Nyu's body.

The two magnum rounds did not hit Nyu's body at all. Kouta did had a little mercy for her since the two rounds were actually warning shots, but still, he refuses to let Nyu in. Nyu is unconscious, but begins to have a dream between Kouta and herself. In the dream, she sees Kouta carrying the _Lithium_ music box, but suddenly, the music box is shattered like a million pieces of glass. The shattered pieces of the music box strike Kouta as he begins to bleed from his wounds. She tries to help him, but Kouta grabs the white undershirt and pulls her close to him. He pulls out his magnum and point at it between her eyes. "I hope you die!" Kouta screams at her in the dream, but it ended when he pulls the trigger.

Nyu wakes up from her dream and being unconscious. She is still in the stone pathway, but the sky is becoming clearer each minute. The sun begins to suppress her eyes, avoiding the returning sun. Kouta opens the door and begins to walk forward. At first, Nyu thought that he was going to grab her. Instead, Kouta went to the entrance door and left the inn without acknowledging that Nyu is still here. Nyu can still feel the pain that Kouta inflicted on her and begins to compress it with her right hand. When she lets it go, she sees small patches of blood on her palm. It was not much, but the damage can be severe. This is the first time that Nyu actually sees her own blood, which is ironic that Lucy kills plenty of human beings in a bloody, painful death. Nyu gets up and sees Yuka stomping on her head. "Nyuu!" she screams with terrible pain. Yuka stomps repeatedly on Nyu's head like a rapid fired machine gun. "You are lucky that you are still alive, Nyu" Yuka whispers with escalating fear in her voice. Yuka grips the back of Nyu's white undershirt and throws her on the tooling shack. Her head struck the left leg of a steel workbench. Yuka gives an evil grin, shutting the shack and locking the door, while she lets the rising heat consumes the small, claustrophobic shack.


	18. Savior

The heat begins to take its toll on Nyu, up to the point that she begins to struggle breathing. "Kouta.." she whispers to herself. It is clear now that she is going to die, not by the wound in her head, but by the suffering heat. Nyu cannot bare the heat any longer and begins to dehydrate. Suddenly, someone opened the door. It was Yuka. She pulls Nyu's long, pink hair and drags her to the corner of the tooling shack. In the corner, there is a vintage water pipe that can be treated as a drinking fountain, but it is not been used since Kouta occupied the place. Yuka pulls something out from her pocket; it was a long rope with a collar on one end. The worse has arrived. When Yuka constricts Nyu from struggling, she attaches the collar to Nyu's neck and tightens it, partially strangling her in the process. Nyu cannot contain her weak mind from Kouta's verbal and physical assault, but Yuka is the worse. In Nyu's mind, she accepts the punishment from Kouta in any way shape or form because she is directly involved in Kouta's past. It is unclear if Nyu knew that her other personality, Lucy, killed his family. The only she had the connection between Kouta and herself is the cherish times together, particularly in the zoo but not her other personality's first violent encounters. If Nyu did not have taken the music box without 'telling' Kouta in the first place, the verbal and physical abuse would have not happen. However, the grandfather clock and _Lithium_ combination would bring the relationship closer and end Kouta's psychological misery in a peaceful way. Nyu has a sudden image in her head, reminisce the event when Kouta shot her with his magnum. What she could not understand is that Kouta wants her dead, for good.

The thought of Kouta wanting her dead caused her to begin crying. "What's the matter, crybaby?" Yuka said to her, standing in a manipulative posture. "Kouta does not want you here." Yuka degrading comments deter her, up to the point that Nyu begins to scream Kouta's name with the top of her lungs. It was a call for help, but in no avail. Nyu begins to crawl to Yuka and beg like a puppy wanting to eat his food. "Kouta is not coming to save you!" Yuka replies to her urgency. "Do you know why I broke the grandfather clock?" "I want to prevent you from being with him!" "I love Kouta with all of my heart, but you took him away from me!" "He does not deserve to be with a sadist who plays crocodile tears!" Yuka grips a hammer with her right hand and the inevitable is approaching. She is going to nail Nyu's horns, 'penetrating' deeper to her skull, resulting in a possible infliction to her brain which would lead to death. Yuka wanted Nyu dead, not just for herself, but for Kouta's misery that she had to burden in her late childhood and teenage years. "Time for you to die!" Yuka yelps with her almighty roar. Her glorious ambition came to a sudden end when a single gunshot is heard at the entrance.

Kouta shot the hammer that Yuka is about to inflict on Nyu. He witnesses the worse abuse, much worse than he done on her, himself. He cannot believed that Yuka was the one responsible for destroying the clock so that Nyu cannot, metaphorically, allow Kouta to move on his life that just came out from his personal 'justice' and to carry on the past of compassion and love between the pair. What anger him the most was Yuka tying up Nyu around her neck with a collar when Nyu is already dehydrated from the heat. He assumes that Yuka prisoned Nyu at the tooling shack when he left to take some fresh air from the verbal assault on Nyu. "Kouta?" Yuka asks him in a surprised mood. The strangest part is that she did not realize that he even fired his magnum round on the hammer that she was holding. Kouta suddenly sprints and smacks Yuka in the face with his magnum. He is supposed to stop striking after the first hit, but he just kept smacking and bashing. The physical abuse on Nyu is not the one that caused him to rage, but Yuka's destruction on the grandfather clock that has the _Lithium_ music box on it. Blood begins to stream from Yuka's nose, but this did not stop Kouta from further attacks. Nyu interfered. "Nyuu!' she tells him. Kouta momentarily stops the assault and sees Yuka, half-beaten and bruised. Kouta realized that he is hitting a girl, an abusive and assaultive girl. "I..love you, Kouta" Yuka whispers to him, somewhat in delusional. Kouta did not paused and hits Yuka one more time, knocking her out.

An hour passed by, Kouta forced Yuka to leave the inn or will face his wrath. Yuka did not communicate to him since the assault and left without saying goodbye. Kouta sees the dehydrated Nyu and taken care of her by giving her adequate amount of water. He also patches Nyu's head injury that Yuka caused by wrapping white bandage roll around her head. Nyu did not say a word to him either. "I'm sorry, Nyu" he said to her in a remorseful mood. He knew that she taken the music box without his permission, but acknowledges that she wants to present to Kouta as a gift. He gave Nyu an affectionate hug and kisses Nyu in the forehead, which is a sign of restarting the friendly relationship over again. She responds with pure blush and kisses Kouta in the lips. This is a shock to him, since he does not know how to respond to this. Should he kiss her back? Before he could react, he can hear his sister 'talking' to him. "Don't do it, Kouta!" Kanae's voice said to him in his head. "She's evil!" Kouta backed off from Nyu and did not return a kiss back to her. Nyu is disappointed by this since she loves him with all of her heart. Kouta did the 'right' thing for not responding to the kiss and withdraw from it. He begins to imprint his mind, saying to himself that Nyu is the one that killed his family. "Avoid the devil's deception" Kanae's voice tells him with pure enforcement. Kouta is saddened by this. He has 'fulfilled' his revenge, but now, he has his sister's voice in his mind that 'tells' him to never be with her. As he is about to head to bed, he realized that someone is missing. Nana.


	19. Ill Fated Redemption

Nightfall has arrived to the beautiful beach of Kamakura though the sand is filled by recycled material and moderate level of pollution. Nana recalled the deaths of Kurama and his daughter, Mariko. The pair should not deserve this violent death. A family reunion is shattered by Lucy six months ago. She is nothing but a sadist, apathetic, and unmerciful. In Nana's theory, the only reason why Lucy is alive because she loves Kouta, refusing to die even when facing impossible odds… in terms of numbers. What made Nana upset the most is that Lucy kills so many human beings for a long period of time, and then just tell Kouta that she is sorry for what she has done. NO! Nana will not let her live. 'Papa' tells Nana to end her life, by all means necessary. "Papa..Mariko, I am sorry for failing to save the both of you" Nana mutters to herself. Nana's mind keeps showing Lucy who ripped off her arms and legs, and escape from the fighting at the cemetery. Then Nyu just came along and play crocodile tears to deceive Kouta and Yuka. Though Nana knew that Lucy/Nyu are two different contradicting personalities, it would not matter is she is in her 'Nyu state'. Kaede must die.

"Where is she?" the mysterious gentleman ask her from behind. The gentleman is Bando, one of the SAT members who encountered Lucy in the Kamakura beach. He was saved by medical personnel and Kurama augmented certain body parts, including his eyes and arms. Bando is somewhat of a super soldier and is seeking revenge on Lucy. He wants redemption for the damage Lucy caused and fulfilling his revenge for Kurama's untimely death. Between six months ago and tonight, he begins to train his augmented arms by aiming his Desert Eagle on a target practice dummy. Nana met Bando before the bridge incident, indication that there is a pact between the two since both of them wanted Lucy dead. She did not answer Bando's question, but tells him to wait at the beach. Nana left and begins to walk back to the inn. When she left, the hitman approach to Bando and tells him that he wanted her dead from the government's executive order. Bando seems to acknowledge that the hitman is a government agent, but his ambition is vague. What is the connection between Lucy and the hitman? Bando does not know this answer and probably would never know about it.

Nana returns to the inn and sees Kouta asleep while Nyu sat on a floor pillow in a humble position. Nyu seems upset and Nana quickly notices the white bandage roll around her forehead. Nana also notes that Yuka is not present at the inn. Did something important happen at the inn and what happen to Nyu? This does not matter to her as her ultimate goal to bring Nyu to the beach. "Nyu, do you want to take a walk with me?" Nana asks her. Nyu did not respond immediately, but nods shortly afterwards. The diclonius pair were heading to beach, luring Nyu so that Bando and Nana will end Lucy's life, once and for all. Eventually, the pair reaches to the Kamakura beach as Bando is ready to duel Lucy. Nyu is confused by the recent activities on the beach while Nana stands next to Bando, allowing him to pull the trigger. Nana notices the mysterious gentleman who stood near Bando, who is the hitman that tried to assassinate Nyu. The hitman's objective is to end Nyu's life and another opportunity is open for him. Nana thought Bando is going to pull the trigger, but he did not. Bando picked up a small piece of wooden board and smashes it against Nyu's injured head. The blow impacted her up to the point that she lost conscious in a second. The hitman did not react to Bando's first revengeful move as he is about to smoke a cigarette. Bando pulls out his Desert Eagle and points it at her head, but Nyu is awake. This time, she will not endure further abuse.

Nana tries to detect if Lucy is present, but surprisingly, she is not. In Nana's view, Nyu could be in a mad mood, but then, she begins to use her vectors. This cannot be! How can she use her vectors in the Nyu personality?! Nana and the hitman were caught off guard by this sudden return of her vectors. Bando reacts to it indifferently and fires his rounds on her with 'moderate' effect. Her vectors are reflecting the more powerful rounds though the vectors were becoming weaker. During the bridge incident, Lucy/Nyu's vectors shield her when .50 caliber rounds were aiming at her. Her vectors were weakened from this, resulting inactivity up to now. The vectors seem to be released from Nyu's body only when she is threatened from being killed by any individual who is threaten enough that wanted her dead. "Damn it!" Bando growls to himself when the .50 rounds failed to strike her. "Nyuu!" she screams in retaliation, unleashing the vectors back at him. Nyu only uses her vectors for defense, not compulsive attacks like her Lucy personality. Bando seems surprised by her defensive stance. He easily recalled her brutal and grisly attacks on him that led to his loss of his eyes and his right arm. Now, he sees the innocent version of her. Bando knows what to do as he prepares to aim his Desert Eagle on her head. The last .50 caliber round hits one of Nyu's horns. From there, she fell to the sand, but gets up. Nana still cannot detect Lucy's presence, but she is only getting angrier. Kaede has returned.

Kaede is the mixture of Lucy and Nyu personalities, and she had a disturbance call. Bando tries to fire another round but she dodged it as he ran out of ammunition. Kaede returns engagement against Bando, but he evades her vectors. Bando use one of his fragmentation grenades and threw it at her, but she stops the grenade by floating it with her vectors as it failed to explode on impact. The hitman pulls out his M9 Beretta and fires it at the floating grenade. The blast knocks Kaede off the sand and landed flat. Kaede finally knew who the individual that tried to assassinate her. It was the hitman, who ruin peace after the tragic incident between Kouta and herself. In a rage of fury, Kaede unleashes her vectors against the hitman, but Bando throws a flashbang grenade, igniting white flashes against her. Kaede is in disarray as the hitman charged at her with a combat knife in his hand. The hitman successfully slash Kaede's right arm, but it seems that the damage is minimal. He is about to perform a backstab move on her, but she uses her vectors as it penetrates through his stomach. The hitman fell to the ground and begins to clutch his wounds. While Bando and Kaede continue fighting, he struggles to grab his walkie-talkie and presses the response button to talk. "Maple..Inn" he said to it, signaling to the SAT members who were in the Kamakura district. Those were his last words before he accepts his fate.

Bando perform an uppercut punch against Kaede as she fell once more to the scratchy sand. Kaede deceives Bando and slices off his left arm with her vectors. He attempts to resist the pain, but it is unbearable. Kaede is about to give Bando another slow, painful torture method that her Lucy personality had done before six months ago, but Nana interfered when she used her vectors to disable Kaede's further use. This abruptly ends when Bando grabs the hitman's combat knife and cuts Kaede's right stomach. The fighting is over, temporarily. Bando has failed to create a deeper wound on her stomach due to the fact that the cut is small, but it did damage Kaede up to the point that she cannot continue on fighting. Bando felt tired from fighting but had a quick eye when she is about to kill the distracted Nana with her returning vectors. "Get out of the way!" he yells at Nana, who did not notice the sudden offensive attack. Bando shoves Nana away and took the decisive blow. By the end, Bando is on the verge of death. He is losing the battle against death as blood begins to pour out of his body like a water stream. Nana came to Bando and tries to save his life, but Kaede approach to the pair. She is about to kill Nana and finish off Bando. Before Kaede is about to speak, Bando intervene. "Surprised!" he screams at her. He pulls the hitman's M40 sniper rifle and pulls the trigger.

Somehow, the .308 round actually hit Kaede's second horn as it fell to the sand. Kaede compresses the immense pain and struggles to walk away from the scene. Nana cannot contain her wild emotions as she sees Bando dying. "Did..I killed Lucy?" Bando whispers to her, struggling to catch his breath. Nana could not tell him the truth that Lucy is still alive and decides to lie so that he can let go of his grudge. "Yes, you killed Lucy!" Nana responds in a confident attitude. "You shot her head and she fell to the ground!" Bando uses most of his breath and screamed "Yes!" However, Nana begins to express her grief that Bando is not going to live at any moment. "Hey.." Bando tells her in a low voice. "When I am…gone…remember to clean up the beach…for me." Nana nods submissively and weeps over his body. "I am sorry…for being mean to you." "You are a nice diclonius…really." Bando took his last breath. "Thank you." Death dominates Bando's life and so is the hitman. Bando failed to get his redemption for his suffering that he endured and now, his revenge is useless. Nana unleashes her uncontrolled emotions and cries aloud. Nana lost three of her "family members", Kurama, Mariko, and now Bando. While Nana releases her emotional burden, Kaede struggles to continue walking as if she had survived a pyrrhic victory. She vows to not fight again, but she had to "defend herself" in order to live. If she fights once more, it is certain that she cannot win. The only thought on her mind is go back to the inn with Kouta and continue to live peacefully, if she can. But she knew that peace will not last forever. While Kaede struggles to walk back to the inn, Nana grips a handful of hand and forms it as a fist. "Nyu or not, I will end her life, for good!" "Bando, Mariko…'Papa', I will avenge your deaths!"


	20. A Failed Promise

Walking off the scene somewhat disappoint Kaede. The thought of killing the two gentlemen traumatized her because she feared that Kouta will know about this. Kaede did not even know why she killed them. The only recollection that she can remember is Bando trying to kill her six months ago and tonight was her 'self-defense'. Was it really self-defense? Kaede must not think of this further and must get back to the inn before the authorities come to the crime scene. Kaede did not take the default path to the inn, which is the stone stairs that leads to the inn from the Kamakura market district. She is taking the back path which contains the surrounding temporal forests and the cemetery. Every time she takes a step forward, the pain in her stomach is more noticeable for her mind. She continues to walk until she drops to the dirty pathway. She crawls to one of the tree trunks and lays her back on it. "I am Kaede" she states her identity. "I am not a murderer." "I am not a murderer." She repeats this statement continuously until she passed out.

Nana cannot react to Kaede's 'self-defense' killings against Bando and the hitman. She stares at Bando's bloody, lifeless body and tries to bury him but she heard the helicopters approaching to the scene. She has to hide from the authorities, assuming that they wanted her dead too because she is also a diclonius. Unlike Lucy or Mariko, she will not harm any individual except to those who threatens her that wanted her dead. Mariko is 'supposed' to kill Lucy and possibly humans, but realized that Kurama is her father. She wanted to see her father and expected love from him. This is how Mariko 'ends' her compulsive ways and defends Kurama and Nana. Nana recalls the moment when Lucy detonates the cell phone that killed 'Papa' and Mariko. She can hear Lucy's evil laughter in her mind, regarding to their deaths. Now, Nana has to run away from the scene and to get to Maple Inn. She has to tell Kouta that Kaede needs to be 'removed' and not giving her a 'third chance'. As long as Kaede lives, the bloodshed will not end. Letting Kaede live peacefully will not work due to her violent nature and the luring of innocent portrayal. There are two solutions for Kaede. Convince Kouta to kill Kaede 'again' or let Nana end her life. Nana sees Kouta as a failure to 'punish' her enough to understand that killing people will not solve anything. He is an indecisive decision maker, but now, Nana has a very good reason to end Kaede's life.

"I cannot pass out again" Kaede said to herself. Her pace is very slow due to the pain that the hitman and Bando inflicted on her. Now, she needs to patch herself and find a new set of clothes. Most of her white undershirt is now ripped apart and covered in blood. She has no choice but to come to the inn in this condition, unless that she can avoid Kouta's presence if he is awake. Kaede prays that Kouta is still asleep, but if he is not, she has to sneak in the backyard and climb up the kitchen window without detection. Kaede finally reaches to the inn and took a peak at the kitchen window. The kitchen light is very dim and Kouta is not on sight. She tried to hatch the window, but it is bulged. Kaede has no choice but to enter through the front door and when she opens it, there is only silence and no presence of Kouta. She is glad that he is still asleep, but when she closes the door and turns around, Kouta is at the hallway, staring at her white undershirt that is covered in blood.

He just drank a warm cup of tea in his bedroom and is about to put the teacup on the kitchen sink when Kaede snuck in. "Nyu…" Kouta said to her in utter shock. "No…this cannot…again…" He drops the teacup as it landed hard on the clear, wooden floor. The teacup shatters like a broken heart and Kouta can't get a response out of his mouth. His heartbeat jump dramatically, up to the point that he fell to the ground. Kaede rushes towards the stunned Kouta, but he burst out of his traumatized state and slapped her on her left cheek so hard that she flipped sideways on a ninety degree angle. "Don't touch me!" Kaede attempt to resist the stinging from his powerful slap and develops tears. She knew that Kouta's promise of her not killing anymore has broken. Therefore, there is no point for Kaede to cover her dumbfounded excuse. Kouta struggles to get back on his feet and points at her with his index finger like an aggressive judge denouncing the convicted to its sentence. Before he is about to speak, Nana bangs the door and gave a sharp eye against Kaede.

"This is for my family!" Nana screams at Kaede as she sprints towards her. Nana slams her and grips her head, smashing on kitchen counters and shoji walls. The reason Nana did not used her vectors against Kaede is because she cannot expose it in front of Kouta. Nana use close range unarmed combat against Kaede as an alternative of releasing her cold justice. She picks up a dark colored lamp and bashes the lamp against her head, breaking it as the result. Kouta did not intervene to end the fighting since Nana's brawl is an alternate of releasing his negative thoughts. Just after Nana's successful strike against her head with a breakable lamp, Kaede begins to sob. Her head begins to stream with blood and apologizes in the same manner, like the bridge incident. Kouta did not express any sympathy like before. Before he shot 'Nyu', he did had some sympathy for her when he acknowledges her being treated terribly when she was a child. Now, he has to end 'evil'. She commits to keep the promise, but this promise is an ultimate failure. He is foolish for 'giving hope' to Kaede, even when he knew that she is the one who killed so many. It is like telling the devil to do good deeds, but nature tends to inherit. He is about to react to this drama, the trio heard helicopter noises and loud voices outside the inn. The SAT members launch its raid on the inn.


	21. No Sympathy

The raiders begin to smash the windows and kicking obstacles that were blocking their way. Their primary goal is to capture Lucy and to be executed by the Japanese judicial system, but will face criminal trial. However, the Japanese government does not know about her vectors and the killing method she performs. Government officials assumed that she just murdered people with any weapon that she could find or use her bare hands. "Get down on the ground!" one of the SAT members bark at the trio. Kouta and Nana immediately follow his command, but Kaede stood still, anticipating the brutal takedown by the SAT. As expected, two of the SAT members smack her in the head and landed flat on the floor as they were tying up her hands with a tight rope. "You will be arrested for mass murder and the possible persecution of committing genocide against humanity" one of the captors told her. Four other SAT members were aiming their American made M4 carbines against her head, willing to shoot if she commits any offensive attacks. In Kouta's mind, was Kaede's murders really genocide?

When one of the captors state about Kaede's genocidal atrocities, his heart boiled with great anger. What made Kouta upset is how Kaede, his childhood friend and past love interest, failed to uphold the promise that she kept and continue to kill people. When he heard Nana yelling at her that Kaede killed her 'family', Kouta acknowledges that Kaede is nothing more of a savage who enjoys the sight of blood and the crave of human suffering. His memories shuffle like a child flipping pages of a lengthy book, processing his loving memories with Kaede when he was a young child to the moment when he shot her stomach twice. He felt idiotic when he develops an 'easy promise' to Kaede, which is to not kill any individual for any reason, what so ever. It failed. Kouta asks one of the SAT members to let him stand up and talk to Kaede. The captor allows him to speak to her. "Who…did you killed?" Kouta coldly asks her, signaling that he has no tolerance for lies. Kaede did not spoke to Kouta, remaining silent in hopes that he will calm himself. Kaede's disobedience annoys Kouta as he grabs the captor's baton and bashes once against her shoulder blades. "Who did you killed?!" Nana answered Kouta's raging question instead of the muted Kaede. "She killed Bando and the hitman" Nana quietly answers to him. "Bando tried to hunt her down six months ago since he is carrying out orders." "However, she tore off his right arms and forcefully removed his eyes during that time." "He wanted to seek revenge for his suffering, just like you, except…he did not survive and failed." Kouta immediately notes the comparison of Bando's redemption and his own.

Nana wails uncontrollably as Kouta's feelings reach to its boiling point. He cannot contain himself when his mind processes his murdered family, the psychological evaluation, his commitment of revenge, and the shame of proposing a promise that is bound to fail. He tightens his grip on the baton and attacks Kaede again, this time in a rapid repetition. Kouta's emotions spun out of control as Kaede did not defend herself from the increasing notice of pain. "I _hate_ you!" Kouta barks at her. Those three words attack Kaede's sensitive heart like wasps stinging on human skin. Her affection for Kouta is shattered not because of his release of hatred, but for her failure to uphold the promise. Unlike the incident at the bridge, Kaede detects no sympathy from Kouta, at all. "Kouta, please!" she begs to him, clutching his left ankle in a way that Nyu had done before. He easily recalls the similarity of what Kaede/Nyu had done, but it was interrupted when two of the other captors stomp her head and beats it with their batons. She was knocked out cold. The Blackhawk helicopter hovers above the front lawn as the captors inside the Maple Inn, extracts her to it. The captor, who demands Kouta and Nana to drop on the floor, approaches him. "You should have killed her" the captor whispers to Kouta's left ear. The captor left the two and went to the helicopter. As the SAT members were able to apprehend the unconscious Kaede to an unknown destination. Kouta went to his room while Nana stares at the vandalized Maple Inn, containing debris on the living room, family room, and the kitchen. "Kouta, what are you doing?" Nana asks, approaching to his room. Kouta rushes to his desk drawer and loaded his magnum cylinder with six rounds. He took a few more rounds with him and plugs them in his jacket. "Something that I should have done a long time ago" Kouta answers to Nana with no emotion. He remembers what Kaede had told him when the two were children. "If you want to satisfy your revenge for your 'family', and for yourself, tag along with me."

The Blackhawk helicopter flies overhead the Kamakura market district and the beach. The helicopter is supposed to be headed to Tokyo for criminal trial, but is heading to the open sea. "Hey, what the hell are you doing, pilot?!" one of the concerned SAT member asks the pilot. The pilot draws his silenced M9 Beretta and fires on two of the SAT members. The helicopter is not heading to Tokyo, but is designating to the Diclonius Research Facility, where Kaede's evil sprung out of control. Kaede slowly open her eyes and sees the white-walled research facility. Her heart rate increased when she immediately noticed the landmark and struggles to getup. The pilot landed the helicopter on the helipad and got off the seat, grabbing the weak Kaede to the overseer. Chief Kakuzawa sees Kaede who is wearing the dried-blooded white undershirt, which is almost ripped apart. He approaches to Kaede and welcomes her. "Lucy, enjoy killing yet?" he said, welcoming Kaede's 'return' with dark humor.

Author's Note: _The next 'chapter' is the second Q&A session. I receive a lot of questions from readers and I am willing to answer your questions. Besides the good questions that I received from private messages, I do have an increasing number of harsh criticisms, regarding to Kaede/Nyu's treatment when being abused. I will address and respond this matter in the Q&A session. _


	22. Q&A Session Two

**Q&A of Elfen Lied: Alternate – Session Two**

The questions contain the content from chapter sixteen to chapter twenty, the most recent chapters before this second session of Q&A. Some of the questions include from the content prior to the first Q&A session and I am willing to answer your questions.

**Q: Why is Mayu not featured in this fanfiction story?**

A: In my view, Mayu is only a supporting character that has no involvement in the actual storyline. She is like a 'brick' and needs to be removed. If you read the manga or watch the anime, she actually had no participation in the actual plot. I am going to be honest here. Mayu is, in my point of view, is more of a 'harem' character, though she does not feature any 'harem characteristics', such as the interest of the protagonist (Kouta). Though the manga did expand Mayu's role, she is still not involved in the actual storyline, which is based upon Kouta and Kaede/Lucy/Nyu and those who are directly involved, like Yuka, Nana, and other characters. This fanfiction story focuses on the relationship between Kouta and Kaede, including to those who knew the pair, and no subplots. Basically, Mayu's background story is one of the subplots in the anime and manga. Therefore, including Mayu in this fanficiton is utterly useless.

**Q: Who is the hitman?**

A: The hitman is directly associated with the Japanese government. He is not actually a hitman, but Chief Kakuzawa thought he was since he told him to capture her. It can imply to some readers that he just 'hired' the hitman to do so, but his ambition is to kill her. The hitman is actually an original character that I had made up, though he is a very minor character. His character is meant to be similar to the Unknown Man (he's a manga character to those who do not know who he is), having the characteristics of an assassin and to find Kaede/Lucy. In this fanfiction, however, he attempts to assassinate Kaede/Nyu. The information of Kaede/Nyu's description from one of the Japanese government classified documents from Shirakawa (Shirakawa is actually a government spy) and the photograph that Chief Kakuzawa gave, verifying the hitman's goal to end her life. I won't give any more details about the hitman due to the fact that he is the 'replacement' for the Unknown Man, one of the antagonists in the Elfen Lied manga that had little or no background details. The hitman is just a minor character that had little involvement to the main storyline, but had moral ground of saving humanity by all means necessary.

**Q: Kouta already has his 'revenge', why is he still mad and upset?**

A: When Kaede surprised Kouta that she still survived from the bridge incident, he has doubts that she can become a normal person. One point, Kouta states that he will not guarantee his kindness and affection for Kaede (referenced in Chapter Eleven), until he is comfortable and allow her to stay at the inn if Kaede holds her promise. In the previous Q&A session, there were some scenes that I have noted, particularly the broken seashell and the destruction of the _Lithium_ music box. The _Lithium_ is the most important object for Kouta, which symbolizes the 'old Kouta' who is the gentle and caring. The destruction of the music box actually destroyed the remaining innocence of himself. In this state (as of Chapter Twenty: No Sympathy), he shows no remorse and begins to mature in a 'bad way'. He tells himself that he was idiotic of 'giving hope' to Kaede of refraining to kill human beings. This is the fact that he let his innocence overcame rationality and personally believes that Kaede can keep the promise since she experience the 'Nyu' personality, which displays cuddling innocence. However, he actually does not believe that she has multiple-personality disorder since Kouta believes that 'Nyu' personality is a 'coverup' of her hideous crimes (note that the 'Nyu' personality developed during the escape from the Diclonius Research Facility and gotten shot by a .50 caliber though it was protected by the metallic helmet). In this state, there is no turning back.

**Q: Where is Yuka after Kouta forced her to leave the Inn?**

A: Yuka actually went back to her own home after Kouta witnessing her brutal abuse against Kaede/Nyu when he was taking some fresh air.

**Q: What does the kiss between Nyu and Kouta represent?**

A: The kiss is the representation for thanking Kouta when he 'saved' Nyu from cruel abuse. The kiss actually demonstrates 'true forgiveness' and an attempt for Kouta to move on his life from the past, including Nyu's true love for Kouta. Unfortunately, he did not return a kiss, still clinging on the past and continues to acknowledge that she killed his family. He can hear Kanae's voice as she told Kouta to not kiss her back. Kouta believes that if Kaede/Nyu is gone, his deceased family can rest in peace.

**Q: How much is Elfen Lied: Alternate completed?**

A: Roughly around 70%-75% completed (as of the end of Chapter Twenty). Basically, I am almost done with the story. When the last chapter is uploaded to the story, there will be a literary analysis 'chapter' which explains the themes and character analysis of this fanfiction story.

**Now about these harsh criticisms, regarding to Kaede/Nyu being abused…**

Author's Response: First off, the harsh criticisms were actually threats against me and the storyline section when Kaede/Nyu received abuse from Kouta and Yuka. I must say that I am not surprised by the reaction from some hyped Elfen Lied fans who love Nyu so much that the person would adore her because of Nyu's portrayal of 'cute' innocence. Elfen Lied: Alternate is a **fanfiction** story. Some readers who read this fanfiction consistently believed that this is a hate literature against Nyu, up to the point that the criticizers threaten me to change the storyline or to remove my debut fanfiction. You (the overhyped, threatening Elfen Lied fan criticizer or 'hardcore Nyu lover') have no respect for individuals, like me, who is just writing a good story and not everyone is going to have the same viewpoint that the 'majority' of Elfen Lied fans that love Nyu. Besides, there is actually a 'balance' between Elfen Lied fans that likes or hates Nyu. If you want to write a fanfiction about Nyu and Kouta being in love and all of that, go ahead though I would say that the great majority of the written fanfiction already have something similar. Cliché.

There is a reason why Kaede/Nyu is being treated like this; it is called literary criticism. Many readers who read chapter fifteen through chapter twenty understood the literal part of the story, but not its meaning. Elfen Lied: Alternate is actually a fanfiction literary criticism (which is intended to) piece that contains in depth interpretation and 'hidden themes' that I will analyze and explain when the story is complete. I do understand why that you criticize on my writing when Kaede/Nyu is being abused. It is just a fanfiction story, folks; stop overreacting about it. The story is definintely not like Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire (simply as Precious). While I do acknowledge of the criticisms, I am very disappointed about the lack of respect that I received from private, threatening messages from a 'moderate' number of Elfen Lied readers. Show some courtesy and respect like a true human being.

**Q: Last, Interesting Question - If Nyu exists in real life, would you, FreemanIsLegend, kill her?**

A: I am not going to answer that question at this time, however, I will answer at the literary analysis 'chapter' when the story is complete.


	23. The Source of Revenge

"_Blood pressure, normal" the doctor told the psychologist. "Heart rate is also normal, sir." The two gentlemen stared at the indifferent pre-teenage Kouta as his eyes were widened, hinting a sense of hidden rage. "Doctor, you can leave now" the psychologist tells him. "I'll take things from here." The doctor left the dark, isolated room and locks the door, in case if Kouta goes berserk. The psychologist notes of one incident when Kouta suddenly attacks the nurse, claiming that she looks like the murderer who killed his family three years ago. The nurse escape from his attack, mostly unharmed. She only had some minor scratches, which one of the scratches actually ripped the skin surface, located on her left arm. The psychologist examines the silent Kouta and prepares to speak._

"_You are twelve years old, is that correct?" he asks Kouta, waiting for his slow response. In a matter of seconds, Kouta answered yes, but in a low, deep voice. "The authorities tried their best to find the murderer, but he or she disappeared" the psychologist spoke in a dull, monotone attitude as if he does not care or sympathize with Kouta. "You do not see the murderer or you just don't remember what it look like?" Kouta tried his best of remembering on the description of the murder, but his mind cannot encode the memory. "No, I just…can't remember" Kouta tells the psychologist in utter sadness. "I just want my family to rest peacefully." The psychologist immediate catches the sudden change in Kouta's emotion. He interviewed Kouta prior before this when he became a menace against the staff. He would scream, throw objects, and tried to harm himself, but after a series of interviews that allow him to release his feelings, he became 'normal'. "The staff conducted plenty of examinations to see if your mentality and as of today, you are good to go" the psychologist tells him. "You can go back home with your aunt and cousin." He packs up his documents and heads toward the door until Kouta asks him a chilling question. "If you find the murderer, would you bring justice for me and my family?" Kouta asks the psychologist, hinting a threatening tone. The psychologist took a long, heavy breath and said 'yes'. When the psychologist left him at the interview room, Kouta spots a pencil that he forgot and begins to draw a face on the white colored, wooden table. The illustrated face is a typical human, but has 'horns' on its head, but Kouta did not draw hair on the face because he failed to recognize the murderer's gender. When he completes the drawing on the wooden table, he jabs the face in the head, right between the eyes. The pre-teenage Yuka echoes Kouta's name, waiting for him at the main entrance of the mental ward. Kouta stares at the drawn face one more time before he prepares to leave the interview room._

Kouta withdraws from his daydream when Nana shook him. "Kouta, wake up" she tells him. He fell asleep on a park bench when Nana went to the market district to buy food, because she is constantly hungry all the time. Due to the recent phenomenon that Kaede caused, the Kamakura police force and the Self-Defense units are blocking major intersections for 'safety reasons'. His past memories were clearer than before because of Kaede. Nearly all of his memories directly or indirectly associated with her and its influences. He is not sure on what do when he sees her again. It is certain that he will not hesitate anymore like at the bridge. Kouta will not letting her 'die' by somebody else's hands. There is only one choice…Kaede needs to be killed by his own hands. Nana begins to shiver from the cold, gusting winds and did not bring a jacket with her. Kouta spots Nana freezing and gives his light jacket to her. "Here" he said. "You need the jacket more than I do." "I have a sweater on me." The pair went to the beach, but specifically went to a small area where Bando and the hitman were killed by Kaede. "This is the spot" Nana states this fact to him. She stares at the dried-blooded sand, but their bodies were not here as their corpses were sent away to a nearby governmental building in the city center. "If we see Kaede again, what should we do?" she asks him firmly. In Kouta's honest feelings, he is not sure on what to do with her. "I don't know…I just don't know."

Author's Note: This chapter is very short since it only focuses on one particular scene. The next chapter will be quite a length and worth reading.


	24. A Pyrrhic Price

"_All things truly wicked started from an innocence" – Ernest Hemingway _

The three words, _I hate _you, continue to shock Kaede when the phrase echoes in her mind, but Chief Kakuzawa interrupted her. She is not happy when she sees him looking at her in an awkward way, as if he had some cruel fantasies about her. "Killing those unworthy _homo sapiens_ takes a very long time, Lucy" he said. "I have established a secret weapon that will unleash the diclonius virus to the globe and it will be ready quite soon!" "All thanks to you!" Kaede felt ashamed for what she had done despite that she refused to participate in the diclonius research since she was captured. She had no choice but to be in an unorthodox experiment that further her insanity, which eventually lead to gain Chief Kakuzawa's ambition regardless of her 'fair' treatment that she is supposed to receive when she was captured. "Guards, send her away to the prison cell!" The three guards tried to constrain Kaede, but she resisted with all of her strength. "Just hit Lucy in the head!" The guards use their batons and bash it against her head. The hitting only caused Kaede to get angrier until one of them smacks it against her damaged horns. When the guard struck on the horns, it sends a massive shellshock against the brain and experience a sudden traumatizing effect. Kaede screamed with horrific agony and crouch in the fetal position. "Hey you idiot, be careful on where you hitting her!" Kakuzawa warn the guard who hit her horns. Kaede slowly gets up to her feel and gives an evil grin to Kakuzawa. Lucy has emerged from her hiatus.

"I will destroy all of you!" she barks like the devil who just unleashed hell on Earth. Her vectors were released from her body and the measurements were much longer than before. It was supposed to be two meters, but it is a quarter of a mile long! The first action she performed with her vectors was to destroy the Blackhawk helicopter that transported her here, and so that Chief Kakuzawa cannot escape the facility. Kakuzawa was shocked and afraid for his life, as he is running towards the facility building. Lucy's vectors puncture the facility's walls and causing it to collapse, hoping that Kakuzawa will be killed under a pile of debris. There is something strange about her vectors. Lucy is beginning to lose her control with her vectors as if they have a mind of its own. Instead of destroying the facility building, the vectors are going to sink this tiny island down with it. She cannot handle her vectors and letting them do it on its own. The continuing destruction immediately captures the attention of the entire Self-Defense forces as the government was notified that the nation is under attack from an unknown force. Luckily, Kaede consumes the body and the vectors die back to her body. She needs to escape as the island is sinking due to Lucy's brutal retaliation against Kakuzawa's facility, but where can she go. On the pier, she sees a small tunnel that holds one of the escape pods. The escape pods are supposed to be used in emergencies in case of the government knows the cruel truth on the experiments. Now, the facility and this tiny island of hell are going to be sinking to the ocean abyss. Kaede enters the pod and lay flat inside of it as she presses the launch button. When the escape pod left, the island is in full smoke and captures the attention of the Self-Defense Navy and failed to notice the pod that just escaped. Where can Kaede go now? Kouta hates her already because of her failure to control her instincts to attack and kill. For now, she only needs to survive.

Kouta and Nana were discussing about the possible solutions on how to deal with Kaede. Both of them, of course, want to end her reign of terror. Though Nana requests to take Kaede's life, Kouta immediately denied it. The reason why he said it is because he _still_ has feelings for her, even when she had done so many wrong things. Nana believes that he loves Nyu, but not Kaede or Lucy. Unfortunately, her claim is true. "Why are you so stupid, Kouta?!" she screams at him. "She destroyed many lives, regardless of which personality she is in!" This stops Kouta's thoughts about his good moments when he first met Nyu to the undisputed incident at the bridge. Nana is right. Nyu _is_ Kaede, and no matter of her personalities, she will be stopped from Nana and himself. "I'm sorry, Nana" he quietly tells her, gripping his magnum in a hint of rage. He was not mad about Nana's truthful statement, but it is the reminder of Kaede's sins against him and the Kamakura inhabitants. "How did you have that gun?" she asks. Kouta stares at his magnum and his mind begins to have thoughts about his suicidal attempt, but he withdraws from it. "This gun belongs to my father" he tells her. "He purchased it for safety reasons when the first murders were taken place years ago." "Sadly, the murderer was Kaede when this happened." Before he continues to tell Nana about his past and his days with Kaede, there was something that is approaching them from the sea and it is speeding up at a constant acceleration.

Kaede feels like vomiting because of the escape pod's speed is going way too fast and she does not know how to slow this thing down. All of a sudden, the escape pod begins to slow down and lands on Kamakura beach. She can tell because she can 'hear' that the boat has touch the shore and the sand been carved by this egg-shaped pod. When the pod finally stops on the beach, the hatch unravels itself and she got off from it though she stupidly 'slipped' off the pod. Kaede has no clothes on because the blood-stained undershirt was ripped during her 'Lucy' state. The only thing that she has to do is to go back to Kouta and have to tell him something important, but she heard the click from the magnum hammer. She slowly turns around and sees Kouta pointing the magnum to her head within fifteen feet, who is about to kill her within seconds. "Kouta…I.." she stutters to him, but her conversation is interrupted when another escape pod landed on the beach at the approximate vicinity to where Kaede, Kouta, and Nana were at. The second escape pod holds Chief Kakuzawa who barely escaped from his heavily endorsed Diclonius Research Facility and his secret weapon has sunk to the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean, all thanks to Kaede. The first thing Chief Kakuzawa saw when he got out from the escape pod is Kouta pointing his magnum at Kaede. She is supposed to be his 'Eve' and Kakuzawa cannot allow this boy shoot her. The worse came when one of the SAT members, who was patrolling the beach and carries the Benelli M4 shotgun, saw this and approaches to them. Instantly, Kakuzawa pulls out his silver M9 beretta and fires the first 9mm round on the soldier's head, killing him instantly. He turns around very quickly with haste agility and fires the second round on Kouta's magnum. In no hesitation, Kakuzawa fires a third 9mm round at Kouta's right lung, which creates a 'small puncture' as a result from it. When Kouta fell to the ground, Kaede felt a nuclear rage inside of her and thought that he is in the verge of death. Ever since that she killed his family, the only reason why she lives through this day is because she wants to 'properly' apologize to him for her sins, and now, her opportunity is cut short. Anger has boiled up again, and this time, there is no turning back. The Lucy personality is taking over again, but her agenda has changed. She is going to destroy this world that treated her miserable.

"Humanity will die!" Lucy screeches aloud. Her vectors were much longer than Kakuzawa witnessed at his facility. It was around half a mile before, but now, it is miles length. "Kakuzawa, you are not even a diclonius!" After Lucy states this comment, all of her vectors penetrate through his body and it splits to a thousand pieces. He suffers a quick and brutal death. However, she is not just going for Chief Kakuzawa; she wants to destroy Planet Earth. Her vectors begin to 'punch' city buildings and killing innocent inhabitants of her free will. Kouta's university and the general hospital are destroyed by Lucy's vectors as she is laughing maniacally with absolute evil. As she continues to do this, her body begins to melt as her skin and muscle tissues 'slip' away. Lucy is no longer controlling her vectors and lost the will to regain control of them. Kouta opens his eyelids and sees her in a sadist state. Even though he is in a state of possible fatality, his wound does not apply to the current situation that could destroy his hometown. He has to destroy evil, grabbing his magnum and fires a single shot against Kaede.


	25. Atonement

The .357 round struck Kaede's ribcage and its climax have fallen to a sharp decline from destruction. Her vectors immediately died down and Lucy screams out with terror with her miserable fate of suffering. Her body is in the process of melting and the Lucy personality has died, along with her vectors. Kouta is not sure if Kaede is dead. Therefore, he slowly gets back on his feet and walks towards the body. He limps and occasionally stumbles on the way. Before he continues onward, he picks up the Benelli M4 shotgun from the dead soldier's right hand and continues to walk. The wound caused by Kakuzawa is tolling his life away minute by minute. Nana was safe during Lucy's ultimate destruction and walks towards Kouta. "Kouta, you need to get medical help" she states to him with urgent concern. He looks at Nana and slightly smiles at her. "Sure...find some help…for me" he replies back. Nana nods and sprints to any medical personnel who could be still alive, even though the general hospital was destroyed by Lucy. As she runs to the concrete road that is aligned to the beach, Nana weeps. She knew what will happen to Kouta. Eventually, he has reach to Kaede's melting body, seeing her struggling to breathe and its skin melting to the sand.

Kaede has gain back control of her body, but the Lucy personality had ruined the majority of it. She turns around and sees Kouta, looking at her with indifferent emotion. She struggles to regulate her breathing because of a few reasons. One, Kouta had shot her ribcage. Secondly, the skin has melted from her chest and somewhat exposes the lungs to the outside world. Lastly, it is very unlikely that she will not live and will suffer the greatest consequence. Kaede can gather Nyu's thoughts when the Nyu personality consumed her body when Kouta and herself were at the inn together before the bridge incident. The note on Kouta's desk drawer states: _An eye for an eye_ immediately consumed her thought. She clearly deserves this misery according to what she believes. However, in Kouta's mind, it is not. "Kouta…hey" she tells him though she had difficulty to use her breathing to communicate. Kaede's face is still intact, but it did not matter anyway has her body organs are being exposed. Sacks of her melted skin lay on top of her stomach while nearly fifty percent of her skin at her upper body fell apart. "I'm…very…"

Kouta shot Kaede's stomach with his magnum and she died immediately from this result. Kaede is about to say 'sorry' but Kouta is not buying it. She apologized in multiple occasions before and still failed to withhold further killing. Because of this, she does not deserve to live anymore. She destroyed the university that he is attending and the general hospital. Kaede does not deserve to have a 'third chance' to live again! The lives of patients in all ages were killed because of her destruction. Unfortunately, he still does not know about the Lucy personality and only sees the 'body' of Kaede doing this horrific sin. He pulls the trigger again, but his magnum was jammed because of Chief Kakuzawa, but Kouta does not know who he is, yet assumes that he had to do something with Kaede. Kouta drops his magnum and is about to walk away until he heard an already familiar sound. It was Nyu.

"Nyuu…" she said quietly and weeping because she is now suffering the continuous pain of her melted body. The magnum round that was fired at her stomach did not immediately kill her. However, it did kill the Kaede personality but Kouta never acknowledged it. Nyu sees Kouta walking towards her. "Nyuu…nyuu." He can detect Nyu's attempted resistance against the unbearable suffering. She begins to weep and tears fell from her eyes like thinning waterfalls. "Kouta…" She coughs out blood and groans as Kouta watches her, dying and enduring the pain that she damn deserves. He struggles to suppress his memories with Nyu when his innocence is remerging for the first time since a decade ago. Despite of this sudden appearance of this hiatus feeling, his rationality and morals has triumph over his despicable innocence to save Nyu. He remembers what Kaede told him ten years ago. She said to him that if she kills more people, he will have to kill her. He equips the Benelli M4 shotgun and aims it at her head, within a six inches radius. Nyu does not want to die. In her mind, she does not want to die and believes that she has an opportune chance to save Kouta's affection and 'innocence' like six months ago. "Kou-" she said, but was cut off. Kouta fires the first, 12 gauge round that blasts her head. Surprisingly, Nyu still survives but the shell pellets had severely ruined her lustful, sinless face that would prevent someone from killing her. She coughs again but it is a grisly mixture of blood and red-colored saliva. Kouta does not want her to suffer more pain and he fires the second shot that finally killed her, once and for all.

Killing Nyu was done by his hatred and in atonement. The resolution between Kaede and Kouta is the cease of conflict between the two as Kouta kills her in a mixture of rage and little mercy. Her rationality is pretty damn poor while his own rationality is somewhat 'off-the-path'. He does not know why Nyu would want to live even though that she cannot survive within minutes. Was she trying to tell him that she is sorry? He would never know and his concern is to end her reign of terror. Kouta drops the Benelli M4 shotgun and pulls out something from his jean pocket. It was the replaceable seashell that he broke in front of Kaede. He looks at it in his palm, and then stares at the heavily disfigured face that he blasted at. Her perfect body is now ruined and how the way she died is…somewhat justified. Kouta admits it to his heart. It is the only way for Kaede to understand about her sinful killings against ordinary family members, including the young children she took. His revenge is complete and fulfills Kaede's personnel request to kill her. He lightly throws the broken seashell at her body and begins to walk along the shore. The wound at his lung, caused by Chief Kakuzawa, took a toll on him and begins to collapse. From there, his memories process his childhood experience with Kanae giving him small seashells at the beach during the sunset. He slightly smiles at his reminiscence with her. Kouta begins to cough, spitting out blood to the cold ocean water. He lay on the sand and stares at the dimming red-orange sun. His mind suddenly had thoughts of Kaede in the days of being with her. From the strange introduction to the horseplay at the small pond, these were the only good memories that he had. For the first time in nine years, he expresses sorrow for Kaede though he clearly does not want to think about her. Life is being sucked away and the only thing he can do is to rest until Nana returns with a medical personnel. His vision begins to blur and his eyelids struggle to keep it in stable condition. For some weird encounter, the spot that Kouta is currently laying on feels warmer than usual, but this did not matter to him. He smiles at the sun and took a big breath, one last time.

Author's Note: This is the last chapter of Elfen Lied: Alternate (regarding to the storyline). However, there will be a literary analysis chapter that will be uploaded within a week so that the reader can 'used' to the ending of the story before I proceed.


	26. Literary Analysis of EL: Alternate

Literary Analysis of Elfen Lied: Alternate

_While the analysis does contain elements from the manga and anime, most of the details are based upon this fanfiction story as support to represent its meaning and themes. _

Ending Analysis:

The ending is one of the most controversial parts of Elfen Lied: Alternate, but is considered the 'best' from a high number of readers who commented the ending to me from private messages. As I have mention before on the Q&A Session Two, this fanfiction story is meant to be a literary criticism (which is the analysis and message in literature) piece. The ending has a lot of meaning to it.

When Kouta shot the Lucy personality on the back (particularly on the ribcage), it symbolizes the elimination the source of evil that caused Kouta to endure misery in his late childhood and teenage life. There is one symbolism of her body beginning to melt. Kaede's melting body is a 'hidden' representation of the consequences of what she had done to Kouta's family and the thousands of victims she killed. When thinking a bit deeper, it also represents justice for the thousands of victims who were violently killed by Lucy for no reason. Therefore, the 'evil's core' was destroyed and the Lucy personality died. As he walk towards Kaede's body, Kaede struggles to breath and tries to express condolence to Kouta for what she had done to him. However, Kouta's emotional expression is directly similar for what she had done to his family, which is killing without thought and no emotion. In retaliation, Kouta shot Kaede without hesitation in an irony of what she had done to his family nine years ago. He thought that he finishes her off until Nyu's voice is heard. When he walks toward the body, Nyu begins to scream with miserable agony and saying his name with mercy. As Kouta sees this, his emotion began to struggle to release (which is sympathy, and in some extent, innocence), but he concealed this thought psychologically. He still remembers her, regardless of which personality, as the killer of his family and the injustice of other victims who seek redemption. This leads him to kill Nyu with the Benelli M4 (semi-automatic) shotgun with two rounds.

The two rounds being fired is the most represented interpretation in the story. The first meaning of the two rounds is for his father and sister, Kanae (hence those two rounds is equivalent to two family members being killed by Kaede/Lucy). The second meaning is the most important. The first round being fired from the shotgun is the release of his anger and hatred against Nyu (for deceiving him, despise of her innocence when she commits a terrible mistake, and Kouta's belief that she use crocodile tears). The second round is metaphorically contrasted than the first. It actually represents euthanasia and to end Kaede/Lucy/Nyu's suffering from her melting body so that she cannot experience further pain and to 'find-the-easy-way-out'. When thinking deeper, he also wants to end her personal suffering that she endured as a kid and her years of savagery. That is why he recalls Kaede telling him when the two were kids if that she kills more people, he has to kill her. When Kouta puts the broken seashell on Kaede's body, there are two meanings to this. One is the sign of 'respect' to someone who passed away like an individual place a flower on a tombstone. The second meaning to this is actually the representation that he wants (or tries) to get rid of any memories about Kaede and her destruction that devestated himself and the other victims. From there, he took his last breath and stared at the dimming red-orange sun. He notes that the area he is laying his back feels warmer than usual. It represents a metaphor of Kaede's spiritual existence to 'warmth' Kouta and it is the exact spot where she landed on after the escape from the facility. There is a couple of interpretation for Kouta's smile. One interpretation is his good memories about his childhood experience with Kanae, while the other is the satisifaction of killing Kaede. It sounds 'evil' but it is based upon the relief of letting go his grudge and long term objective of settling accounts on the murderer. The third interpretation is the acceptance of his fate. He died from his wound and the spot he took his last breath was the same spot Kaede landed on Kamakura beach in the beginning of the story.

Character Analysis (based upon Kaede/Lucy/Nyu and Kouta; other major characters and minor characters will not be included since they do not have a meaning to this fanfiction story):

Lucy: This personality represents humanity's dark side and the source of evil that caused Kouta's life to psychological misery. There is some sort of debate from Elfen Lied fans if Lucy personality is Kaede's 'dark side'. Based upon this fanfiction, Lucy _is_ the dark side. Her impact to the fanfiction story is unarguably strong, particularly in the following chapters, Darkest Sin, Bittersweet Revenge, (especially) A Pyrrhic Price, and Atonement. Considering from Kaede's past in the orphanage, it is also widely debatable if the 'DNA voice' actually is the Lucy personality. Lucy appears throughout her late childhood to the escape from the Diclonius Research Facility as the sniper was able to shoot her in the left side of head (though the metallic helmet protects her from being killed, referenced from the anime/manga). During her late childhood to the age of early adulthood, this is when she begins her silent rampage and her experience at the facility. Secondly, Lucy does represent the release of anger against humanity that caused her to be discriminated and socially neglected. In specific terms, Lucy represents the cruelty of judgment as she kills any individual because the person is a human being, regardless on the person's age or gender. This personality ended when Kouta shot her back, hitting the ribcage as she was unable to control her vectors and begins to melt due to excessive power beyond of her control.

Kaede: She is the original personality that holds Lucy and Nyu personalities intact. Prior to the escape from the facility, she only had the Lucy personality as an alternative to release her negative emotions. Kaede's presence in this fanfiction started to remerge in the tenth chapter, A Familiar Visitor, as (in Kouta's view), the reincarnation of moving away from sin. The strangest aspect for Kaede is that this is the personality when she met Kouta when the two were children. Kaede seems to know what Lucy and Nyu were doing, even though she did not consume the body since she let the Lucy personality killed Kouta's family. Throughout the rising action to the climax in Elfen Lied: Alternate, she represents the suppressor against Lucy so that she can keep the promise that she commits, but it ultimately failed. There is some debate, particularly on the scene when Bando and Kaede were fighting between each other. A few readers were confused that the Lucy personality was the one that killed Bando (and the hitman). Kaede was the one who killed the two despite that she claims as self-defense. If Lucy consumes the body, it would be very easy for her to kill them within a few seconds with no hesitation. Another representation of Kaede is the indecisive rationality between what is right and what is wrong, despite the contradiction of keeping the promise and killing the pair. In other terms, Kaede knows most common sense than the impulsive, killer Lucy and the innocent, irrational Nyu. Kaede personality was killed when Kouta shot her stomach with the Colt Python .357 magnum even though her body is in the process of melting.

Nyu: She is the newest personality that emerged when the sniper shot Lucy in the head, but protected by the metallic helmet. The main cause of the emergence of the Nyu personality is the 'brain damage' on the left hemisphere of the brain. The left side of the brain functions the following factors: language (reading, writing, especially speaking), rationality/reasoning, and logic (in accordance to the development of Nyu). The .50 caliber bullet struck a decisive, psychological change on Kaede that lead to this as these factors above were wiped out. This is the primary factor for the development of the Nyu personality. Nyu cannot speak normally and could say simple words. In terms of rationality/reasoning, Nyu greatly failed to understand on what is right and wrong. This includes the following (of what she does not understand): she broke the original seashell, the realization of violence caused by Lucy personality, Kouta's first retaliation at the bridge, stole the _Lithium_ music box without permission (and is destroyed), Kouta's psychological abuse, Yuka's physical abuse, and Kouta's stiff belief that the Nyu personality is a cover-up of her crimes. She actually represents the good side of humanity, despite of her being abused from Kouta and Yuka and being shot from him at the bridge and the ending. The reason why is that she continues to express the innocence and good-natured affections toward Kouta as she tried to melt his 'cool' heart and to bring back the 'old Kouta'. She continues to show these factors even when she is brutally abused and did not retaliate. The most ironic aspect of Nyu is that she shares the same body with Lucy and Kaede as she seems to acknowledge about it. Kouta first met her when she awoke from her unconsciousness (which is the transition from Lucy to Nyu) at the inn entrance. The new relationship already went to a terrible start when she broke the original seashell. Since she replaced the seashell as a 'newer' gift for Kouta, the relationship has some ups and many downfalls and faced her tragic end. Nyu was killed by the dying Kouta as he used the Benelli M4 shotgun, resulting in shooting her head, twice.

Kouta: The central character to this fanfiction story (besides Kaede/Lucy/Nyu). He symbolizes the division of good and evil, justice, and rationality. Enduring psychological misery during his late childhood to his early adulthood, he has changed to the worse. In fact, Kouta's character in this fanfiction is the opposite of the actual manga/anime. In the manga/anime, Kouta is a very caring individual to young girls who had a difficult life (such as Mayu, Nana, and of course, Nyu). However in this fanfiction, Kouta is radically rational and has a very high sense of justice, even if his unorthodox actions against Nyu is 'worth it' (in terms of the bridge incident when he shot Nyu multiple times). Kouta does have a minor sense of care for Nyu in the earlier chapters and is about to reach its climax as he is about to have the 'old Kouta' and his affection for Nyu until he witness her killings on Kurama and his daughter, Mariko (though he did not that it was the Lucy personality who had done this horrific action in that time). This is the turning point for Kouta, which leads him to have a long-term grudge against Kaede/Nyu. However, there is a consequence for Kouta after the incident occurred. His definition of justice went too far and his grudge against Nyu became a psychological burden for him. Thus, this leads to his psychological abuse (and occasional assault) against Nyu after she 'confessed' that she took the _Lithium_ music box without permission. The 'lowest' turning point for Kouta is when he sees Kaede in dried-blooded white undershirt. He suffered from this because he propose a commitment for Kaede to not kill people, but failed since he realized that the promise did not work at all. Unfortunately, this leads Kouta to end Kaede's life, for good. When he sees the melting Kaede, he attempted to seal his emotions and did not hesitate to shoot the Lucy and Kaede personality. However, when he sees the Nyu personality suffering, he seems to struggle of concealing his emotion, but he shot her head twice (this is also a metaphor to the fanfiction story). After he completes this action, he had mixed feelings about his action, but eventually begins to express sorrow for Kaede though it is implied that he does not to. He died from his wound caused by Chief Kakuzawa.

Themes in Elfen Lied: Alternate: _Nature vs. Nurture, Good vs. Evil, Revenge, and Justice _

Theme #1: _Nature vs. Nurture:_ One of the central themes in the manga/anime and a 'minor theme' for this fanfiction. This particular theme is one of the most widely discussed among Elfen Lied readers and fans which factors Kaede's past in comparison to Nana's treatment at the research facility. In Elfen Lied: Alternate, this theme discusses about Kaede's nature and how it affects herself and the influences on Kouta.

Theme #2: _Good vs. Evil_: The theme is one of the most frequently used in most writings since the development of literature. It is quite obvious that this fanfiction depicts the battle between good and evil; therefore, there is no point for me to explain all of this. However, the fanfiction story extends this theme to one's self.

Theme #3: _Revenge_: This theme is actually the most important message in the story. The story specifically certain scenes of the 'good' and bad side of revenge and how far the individual would go to achieve it. In the situation for Kaede, it is the release of hatred because of the treatment from her human peers, leading to the potential extermination of humanity. For Kouta, he seeks retaliation to the murderer who butchered his family. However, revenge has consequences and it applies to both characters.

Theme #4: _Justice_: The definition of justice has a contrast range of what is right and wrong as it applies _only_ to Kouta. Kaede/Lucy/Nyu is not the character who seeks justice mainly because she already killed her peers that degraded her, but Kouta seeks any level of justice, either moral or unorthodox. As long that he satisfies his definition of justice, he believes that he can rest in peace, but again, every action has consequences.

_This section discusses the comparison and contrast of Kaede/Lucy/Nyu and Kouta (including one's self) in these four themes, including in-depth analysis. _

1a. Nature vs. Nurture (_Lucy vs. Kaede)_: The explanation is quite obvious. Debate among Elfen Lied fans, including myself, if the Lucy personality is a genetic (in some extent, it could represent nature) part of Kaede's intention to wipe out the human race. Again, Kaede is the original personality that contains both Lucy & Nyu personalities. Regarding to nurture, the discrimination from her peers seem to unlock her 'dark nature', which is Lucy. She finds affection and love for Kouta, which might have decrease the chance of her natural habits of violence. Negative emotions will only cause her to unleash the Lucy personality. Overall, nature (Lucy) had dominated over nurture (Kaede) and Kaede had face consequences for her actions on Kouta's psychological will.

1b. Nature vs. Nurture (_Kaede/Lucy vs. Kouta)_: One of the central discussions in this fanfiction story. This story had little references to the past between the two, but it is clear that Kouta's influences on Kaede are powerful. Kouta expressed friendship and kindness to her up to the point that she has feelings for him (even though she already killed her bullying peers prior to the introduction between the pair). Nurture did triumph over Kaede's decision of letting Kouta live when she rampaged and killed her family because of the idiotic reason of 'caring' his cousin, Yuka. If Kouta were to discriminate her in the past, it is ultimately clear that Kaede would have killed him, but Kouta's nature of kindness and love impacted her decision of letting him live, but of an unbearable price.

1c. Nature vs. Nurture (_Kouta vs. self)_: Regarding to nature, it is quite clear that he had a passive nature of politeness and gentleness to people that he met. In Kaede's point of view, Kouta does care for her and taken her to the zoo when the two were young children. Kouta's natural way of being kind and sweetness affects to those who knew him until Kaede thought that he 'loves' his cousin, Yuka, when she sees him at the festival. Kaede's selfish killings killed Kouta's nature and nurtured with emotional and psychological breakdowns in the age that he is supposed to have the feelings of compassion and love from family and friends. In his late childhood to the age of eighteen, his life is based upon living in the mental ward until he was twelve and frequent psychological inspections. The continuing process of how the way his family is killed plays in his mind repeatedly like a tape recorder being played and rewind in this era. It is clear that Kaede's method of killing had severely damage Kouta's nature that lead to a twisted, nurtured way as he grew up to a young adult.

2a. Good vs. Evil (_Nyu vs. Lucy)_: This comparison is very easy to explain. Nyu is the innocent and passive personality while Lucy is the apathetic, serial killer that can be describe as a mass murder, or in radical extent, genocidal. The comparison between Nyu and Lucy personalities are very easy to explain, therefore, there is no point for me to tell about it. You (the reader) should already know the similarities and differences between the two.

2b. Good vs. Evil (_Kouta vs. Kaede/Lucy)_: Many readers are in a difficult discussion if Kouta, in this fanfiction, is classified as a 'good' character or an 'evil' character. In this theme, however, Kouta is classified as a ('good') anti-hero protagonist who does have a very high sense of justice. When he realizes that she was the one who killed so many, he did have an extreme level of morality, bringing along revenge to justify suffering and the burden of the number of victims' remaining family members and friends. Kaede/Lucy represents evil in this fanfiction. Though Kaede is not directly the personality responsible for all of the killings, she idiotically allows the Lucy personality to kill his family and develops a death toll on the Kamakura residents. At the ending, the 'good' triumph evil though it is up to the reader to decide if this theme apply to this matter.

3a. Revenge (_Kaede/Lucy vs. self)_: Her theory of revenge really went too far even 'satisfying' the killings against tormenting bullies in the orphanage. When Kaede allows the Lucy personality to consume over the body, this was her ultimate mistake. Since then, this is the path of horrific bloodshed and no-ending torment. Kaede/Lucy's revenge was briefly mentioned throughout this fanfiction story. There is a consequence for Kaede accepting this path of 'revenge'. Lucy unleashes excessive powers from her vectors at the stunning climax when Chief Kakuzawa shot Kouta in the lungs with his pistol. Revenge went too far for Kaede/Lucy and was killed by Kouta, who raged on her for the destruction of the city, notably the university he is currently attending and the general hospital.

3b. Revenge (_Kouta vs. self): _If Kaede/Lucy had never killed his family, the future for Kouta would have been much better. Unfortunately, this did not happen. After witnessing the murder, his mind cannot handle the process of violent deaths. Therefore, his mind is traumatized from this. Nurture plays a prominent role on his teenage years as he developed a series of negative emotional and psychological aspects to the theory of revenge. However, he still has some innocence in him, but rationality and justice dominated his mind. Kouta let revenge to consume over him and when he is 'glad' that he did this action against Kaede/Nyu, there was a temporary rest and was in the 'healing process' after the bridge incident. His revenge turned to a grudge when she is still alive, and after a series of phenomenon caused by Kaede, his emotions spun back to revenge and killed her without thought or emotion. At the very end of the story, he felt some regret for killing Kaede.

3c. Revenge (_Kaede/Lucy vs. Kouta)_: Comparing of how far revenge can be, Kouta's method of revenge is actually much stronger than Kaede/Lucy despite the fact that she killed so many in 'retaliation'. The reason why Kouta's revenge is stronger than hers is mainly because that he seeks to find the specific individual who did the killing, which is Kaede. The powerful meaning of revenge in Kouta's mind is much meaningful than Kaede/Lucy due to the fact that Kaede/Lucy might well just wipe out the entire human race in a few short years if she wants to. However, Kouta's natural affections for her somewhat prevented her unlimited rampage against humanity. Unfortunately, Kaede's lamebrained choice of letting the Lucy personality consume her body because of jealousy and depression is one of the main sources that develop Kouta's revengeful which led to an ultimatum when the pair met each other again.

4. Justice (_Kouta vs. self)_: The definition of justice will vary upon the individual. For Kouta, it is retribution and the primary objective is to kill Kaede/Lucy/Nyu when witnessing Lucy's sadistic laugh at the deaths of Kurama and Mariko. He is bounded to kill her, but he walked away so that the soldiers and finish her off because the remaining innocence impacted his decision of killing her. When he sees her alive once again, the meaning of it changed to psychological, and occasionally, physical abuse as an alternative for justice. In the climax, Kouta finally achieve the justice that he deserved, but its effectiveness is lost immediately after he killed Nyu.

Self-Evaluation: This fanfiction story is meant to contain drama and tragic elements as the official genre. What many readers read the earlier chapters of the story, a moderate number of readers did not expect the serious tone that occurred in the later chapters. The summary and genre already given hints about the tone in the story since the very beginning when I first published my first chapter to this website. When I was writing this fanfiction story, I want readers to understand the themes and meanings in this story. From knowing the general Elfen Lied fans and its base(s), the 'majority' of those fans love Nyu, literally. Upsettingly, almost everyone forgets that Nyu is a _personality_, not a person. This actually became an issue when I published the chapters when Nyu is being shot by Kouta in the chapter, Bittersweet Revenge, and the chapters of Nyu's abuse. From there, it became more radicalized of how far an overreacted 'Nyu lover' would be disgusted. In every discussion or debate, there is _always_ two contrasting viewpoints. There is some improvements that I need to do after I have written this fanfiction story. I do believed that I might need to expand a bit more vocabulary to make it 'less repetition' on word usage. Secondly, the audience is actually the most concerned (even though I do not care). The audience in Elfen Lied tends to like _only _one character, Nyu. I did make a prediction prior to my upload to the first chapter that nearly half of the typical readers will reject it. This is actually a general issue since that the 'majority' of Elfen Lied fans who reads any fanfiction will strongly oppose any harm on Nyu. Opposition from the 'popular front' will begin to launch threatening messages or address 'grave concern'. If someone in a typical debate would prefer to listen to the favorable side (in this case, affection for Nyu and no threats/abuse/death/harm/etc. against Nyu), then the person is very biased and closed minded. Overall, the Elfen Lied: Alternate is a generally well-written fanfiction though I would prefer to write more details but it would lead to an 'M' rated story, which I do not want. There were moments of contradictory as I was writing this story if Nyu will be treated like this, but it is a literary analyitc literature piece. This fanfiction should not be taken seriously from radicals and 'Nyu lovers'.

**Q: Do you like the anime or manga?**

A: I like the manga better, but I do not like so much subplots that hinders the storyline. In my honest opinion, the manga storyline could have been a bit shorter and cut the majority of minor characters since that most of them do not have an impact on the story. The anime is 'alright', but I won't blame on the production company since they were forced to condense the story into thirteen episodes. There were some aspects in the anime that I actually like more than the manga. First, the anime puts more emphasis on the relationship between Kouta and Lucy/Nyu, unlike the manga, Nyu seems to be in sexual exploration (but it is based upon ecchi) and not focusing too much on Kouta. The next point is the _Lithium_ music box as a replacement to Nozomi. In my humble opinion, I actually prefer the music box over Nozomi mainly because the _Lithium_ object plays an significant importance between Kouta and Kaede, regarding to the past and the friendship between the two, while Nozomi rehearses Nyu to sing _Elfen Lied_, but the way I see it, the execution (importance) of it is not very strong though I do understand the connection between the title of the manga/anime and Nyu singing about the Germanic poem. I like both of them as each has pros and cons.

**Q: From the question in the Q&A Session Two - ****If**** Nyu exists in real life, would you, FreemanIsLegend, kill her?**

**No:** Innocent, did not actually commit any crime, cuddling, adorable, very affectionate to the individual who she truly cares about.

**Yes: **Crocodile tears performed from hiding her crimes (either unintentionally or intentionally), commits a very serious crime, playing innocent when done something morally wrong, acknowledgment that she had a different personality that leads her to kill but did not 'communicate' to say that something is wrong (if this would have happen then I would have understand, if it is in real life), and/or became a threat that is high enough to wipe out the human race (in my terms it is the following: Kill one, save a thousand).

Summary to the question: Overall, it depends if she has any of the traits above (and on the situation).

**Q: Are you planning to make more fanfiction stories in the near future?**

A: So far, I have three other fanfiction stories I have in mind. There will be another Elfen Lied fanfiction, but it is a crossover to Romeo and Juliet (as of the storyline and will be in the present time) titled Apartheid. It might be released sometime in 2013, but I doubt it since I am occupied with important things. For now, Elfen Lied: Alternate is my debut and last fanfiction that I have written (if I do not publish Apartheid in 2013). If I do upload it, then…well, enjoy reading it. That is what I would say. There is no guarantee that I'll make more fanfiction, but for now, I am done till I have the urge to write more fanfiction stories, especially Apartheid.

**Q: I respect your writing on the ending, but I do not think that Nyu totally deserved that death method even though she did a lot of wrong things. Is there some sort of an alternate ending?**

A: There is an 'alternate' ending for this story. Apparently, the 'alternate' ending is meant to be the original ending. However, I wanted to keep Elfen Lied: Alternate as a literary analytic literature and to tell the readers why the protagonist (Kouta) suffer from the haunting past and his present actions towards Kaede and her personalities. If you actually want to see the alternate ending, you need to have significant 'votes' to the inbox/PM. If there is very few, then I won't put it on. This will expire after one week this analysis is uploaded to the story. If there is not enough, the status of this story will be set to complete and you will not get to see it.

**UPDATE** (October 8, 2012): Due to the story changing status to Complete on September 26, there is a sudden rise of votes for the alternate ending. The minimum votes for the alternate ending was actually 10 votes since I was lenient (and suspected) that many people will be 'turned off' on the main ending, even though I have no verification about this (I just made a theory based upon potential scenario). Prior to September 26, there was only 3 votes..out of 10 minimum votes and I set this status to complete. Now, approximately two weeks later, I have returned to this website and sees a whole bunch of private messages, urgently requesting for an alternate ending. Currently, the total votes were surprising; there are 94 votes that surpassed the minimum votes 9x over. The alternate ending will be uploaded, if I have the time to do so since I very rarely go on to this website and heavily busy on the maximum level. For now, just wait or read this fanfiction story again, if you like.


	27. Alternate Ending

Author's Note: This is the alternate ending to the fanfiction story, Elfen Lied: Alternate. As you already know on the Literary Analysis chapter, the 'alternate ending' is supposed to be the original ending but it is replaced mainly because I want to deliver the themes directly to readers and let them use critical thinking. This alternate ending starts after Kouta shot Lucy in the back and Nana trying to find medical personnel. This ending gives more on the fate of other major characters. Enjoy.

Kouta was angry and upset on the destruction that Kaede caused. Luckily, notable buildings on the Kamakura districts were not severely damage, including the general hospital. It was unclear on what damages she caused, but the only thing that the inhabitants thought is that an earthquake occurred even though it did not actually happen. The market district was in moderate damage as some buildings did collapse and there were minimal causalities. In actuality, Kaede tries to 'fight over' Lucy in order to control her body and attempted to stop Lucy's ultimate destruction to Planet Earth. Kaede overpowered the Lucy personality and diverge most of the vectors to the ocean, making huge splashes as if a torpedo struck a battleship. However, there was a cost. That cost was the state of her melting body that weakens both Lucy and Kaede, but the .357 round brought an end to the villainous Lucy.

Kouta thought that she actually killed people when he briefly passed out and feels the rage inside of him. When he was shot by Chief Kakuzawa, Nana immediately sprints to find medical help for him. He struggles to get up on his feet, but succeed after he tells himself that he must kill Kaede in a tone of raging encouragement. Kouta walks towards Kaede's melting body though he stumbles to the sand in a few occasions. When he finally sees Kaede, his heart suddenly stops.

There was an indication of sadness and utter sympathy inside of Kouta's stiff, radically rational mind despite of her untimely destruction. Kouta's perception of the melting body and the thin steams coming out of it prevents his thinking of killing her on sight. As he stares at her face, he recognizes who it was. Nyu. She begins to cry aloud in great pain as he watches her motionlessly, nothing to do to save her life. "Kouta, Kouta!" Nyu screams, in a last ditch effort to reconcile his thought of killing her. Kouta pulls his lips inside of his mouth and looks away from the body. When he stares back at her, Nyu was already gone and Kaede consumes the body.

"Kouta, I am sorry…I am so sorry" she whispers to him. Kouta nods and asks her: "Did you kill anyone when I was…shot?" Kouta's breathing begins to struggle and its rate is reducing in moderate speed. "No, I still remember the promise…that you made" she answers softly as if the two are in a romantic relationship. "Kouta, you must kill me." When he heard her saying it, there was a conflict in his heart on dealing with her. The sight of Kaede's melting body prevents him to shoot her, but what other option is there. "You can finally let go of the grudge that you had burden for so long." "I am…truly sorry." Kaede reaches her right hand towards Kouta left arm and tightly grips it. At first, Kouta hesitates of pulling the trigger but a few seconds later, he kills her out of misery.

Kouta knew that he will not survive and his heartbeat is dropping like an aircraft being shot down. He stares at Kaede's melted body and suddenly fell to the sand. His perception declined but can hear the rapid footsteps on the sand, distantly hearing his name from someone that he knew. It was Nana and she was able to find medical personnel in an attempt to save Kouta. As the personnel approaches to Kouta's dying body, they notice Kaede's semi-cremated body and Chief Kakuzawa's gored corpse and wondered if this was the incident that they heard ten minutes ago. Nevertheless, the medical personnel begins to perform CPR for a long, straining minute and stabilizing the wound until one of the doctors was able to feel a pulse from his neck, noting that he is still alive.

Seven Years Later

At the inn, Kouta and Yuka congratulates to Nana who she enters her first year at high school. Kouta and Yuka reconciled the events that happened seven years ago when Yuka abused and raged at Nyu. Now, the pair is parental guardians for Nana though there was not an incident of incest relationships between the two and Kouta's health condition is mostly normal though he had irregular breathing tempo, in occasions. Nana's teenage body is similar to Kaede/Nyu back then, causing Kouta to feel depressed, occasionally. As Nana went to her first day at high school and Yuka went grocery shopping, Kouta took a walk in the Kamakura forest, where there was a small burial site of Kaede's dog and the location when Kaede and Kouta first met. Kouta plucks a small flower and places it on the grave. After a short moment of respect, he went to the zoo.

As he got there, there was sudden childhood reminiscence when Kaede was happy when she saw exotic animals like the elephant and giraffe. This shock Kouta's emotions and sees a young boy and a young girl looking at the elephant. The boy was holding hands with the girl and sees the girl's emotional affection towards the boy, similar to what Kaede did. As the boy and girl left, he heard a young lady's voice behind him. "I like the elephants because it reminds me of my childhood back then" the lady said though Kouta does not know if she was talking to someone else or at him. "A polite young boy showed me around the zoo and I felt so sincere that I was lucky to meet him." Kouta turns around and sees a beautiful young lady that has long pink hair and small horns from her forehead. Kouta smiles at her and she had done the same. It was Kaede.

Author's Note (October 15, 2012): There was an interesting question that is mentioned on the review by TheUnPercepted and I will do a review on Elfen Lied on the 'next chapter'.


	28. Elfen Lied Review: Part I

Elfen Lied. An overly expanded storyline that empathize the darkness and horrors caused by a young female Diclonius named Lucy, who torments humanity because of what she endured as a child. The plot then connects to her childhood love interest, Kouta and her disturbed involvement that she committed to him in the past, which will later become a prominent event in the story…so it seems. This is what the Elfen Lied story is supposed to convey to the audience, but it's not. The addition of unrelated subplots and overwhelming (also pure idiotic) ecchi content damages the intentional purpose of Elfen Lied. This review contains three sections: the anime version, the manga version, and the general content since I do not judge a title as a single unit, meaning that in most occasions, the anime takes a different approach than the manga which can alter the storyline. And also note this: **The following review is based upon the question from TheUnPercepted and the review will be based upon my personal thoughts and opinions, containing content which will (or could) disappoint the radical Elfen Lied fan. If you are one of those folks, then don't read it or bark like a child in high doses of sugar.**

Anime: This adaption actually disappoints me despite of my previous statements from Q&A sessions mainly because the reactions were from the first time I've seen it. It is very obvious that anime adaptions are less received than its manga origin, but in this case, I will have to say that this anime adaption is horrid, if not the worse. There are a lot of factors that gravely disappoint me in the Elfen Lied anime, but I will address the important factors as a list.

Elfen Lied and the Nonexistence of Rationality. This will have to be a very serious factor that I must not ignore. Of course, a typical rebuttal to this would be: "This is just an anime." Well, duh. Many would define rationality as reasoning, with the application of morality. While the definition is true, rationality does have a lesser known meaning. The reason why the person does his or her action. In Elfen Lied, rationality does not exist. There are a lot of examples in the anime adaption and the first example is why Kouta (and Yuka) decided to keep Nyu (before and after the police involvement in the second episode). Sure, I do understand that if finding a 'lost' and bewildered individual and taken her shelter for a day or two and call the authorities that they found Nyu. That is what I expected them to do and luckily that it is written in Elfen Lied: Alternate. In the actual anime, this is not the case. In the second episode, Kouta lies to the authorities on the whereabouts of Nyu, particularly in this scenario, this would have been the obstruction of justice (I do admit that Kouta should been thrown his sorry ass to jail by his stupidity protection to himself and Nyu). Where is rationality and his explanation to why he lies to the detectives? Oh right, I guess that protecting a crocodile-tear Nyu is worth it. The **only exception **of why Kouta should lie to the detectives is this: the Kamakura Police Department has a horrid reputation of scandals and distrust gap between the authorities and the population.

1b. Elfen Lied and the Nonexistence of Rationality: Part II. Lucy's background story is one of the main prominences to upheave the intended purpose of Elfen Lied. Her childhood is, of course, horrible, but was her retaliation went too far and was it worth it? Her peers at the orphanage does constant harassment based upon her horns with moderate verbal abuse. As this continues on until the wicked brutality of Lucy's newly bonded puppy, her boiling point has spurred out and kill the bullies. I do understand of how she would commit this, therefore, I am 'alright' with her actions. After the murder incident at the orphanage, she decides to kill the inhabitants on their home…well, because she needs to seek shelter. Wow, you got to be kidding me. From looking at this, I find how the young Lucy just…kills people without a statement of why she killed them (though it is implied that she need to find someplace to live). How stupid. Lucy does meet Kouta and grew to a close friendship, which is acceptable in my standards. I did wish that Lucy realizes that not all humans are pure evil, and there is always good inside of each individual. Unfortunately, this does not happen. Elfen Lied seems to imply that all humans are evil except for Kouta. There is an expected childhood climax that Kouta has lied to Lucy that he was just going to the festival with his male cousin, but in actuality, he went with Yuka. From there, Lucy begins to shut down her 'supposed theory' that humans can be good and goes on a rampage, which ends up killing Kouta's sister and his father. The question is: Why? It would have been better if Lucy goes rampage on Yuka and kills her then explain to him that it was based upon jealousy. Both the manga and anime versions vaguely answer to the question of why she killed Kanae and his father. Lucy's response is, basically, avoiding this question and tells about her background story. You must be joking! Come on!

2a. Generic Characters and the Lack of Development: Elfen Lied does have standard and cliché characters, particularly on Kouta. He is a typical and standard character who claims to care about young women who experience lifelong crisis and taken care of them (with Yuka) as 'paternal guardians'. Kouta claims that he experiences repressed memories, but it is mainly based upon memory denial (in my opinion and the evidence of psychology). In the very first episode of the anime, he experiences a hallucination that Nyu 'could' be connected with someone in the past, but he was withdrawn when Yuka calls out his name. Throughout the show, more hallucinations were shown from Kouta's mind, focusing on Lucy/Nyu's horn. As the show progresses, I have doubts that he has 'repressed memories'. My definition of memory denial is the refusal of accepting the truth that will have dire consequences and pressing this hallucination further back so that he can move on in his life as if nothing had happen. In this Elfen Lied case, acknowledging that Nyu is the girl responsible for his horrible past and the refusal to accept that she is the one who had done it. I would have punched the hell out of Kouta for being such an ass. In the sixth episode, Arakawa (Professor Kakuzawa's partner) tells him the basis of a Diclonius and the effects of having horns. Later on in seventh episode, he talks to Nyu (even though she does not understand) on how she escaped from Professor Kakuzawa and the failure of 'discussion' about the symptoms of being a Diclonius. Again, this scene demonstrates that he refuses to be concerned about Nyu and the potential threat that could happen in the near future. He decides to perceive Nyu as a normal girl and keep her in the household. The rest of the show gives out the climax and Kouta decides to be more 'forgiving' to Lucy. Oh well.

2b. Generic Characters and the Lack of Development Part II: Yuka. Everybody hates her, including myself. Throughout the series, she gets mad at Kouta that he does not care for her. Yuka even expects him to remember the past and how much she loves him. First off, Kouta has 'repressed memories' (though I strongly disagree with this theory) and secondly, why can Yuka just tell him that she loves him. It would have been much easier for herself rather being such a selfish and cocky bitch. Mayu is a supporting character that has no purpose in the show (which I had already explained in the Q&A). Nana is my favorite character in the show. Ironically, she is the only character that displays rationality and logical sense than the rest of the cast. Bando is also a cool character, but it is unfortunate that many assume that he is the 'bad guy'. Sure, he is a minor antagonist, but the definition of antagonist does NOT always mean an evil character. It actually defines as a character who opposes the protagonist (Lucy). Other characters such as the Kakuzawas, Kurama, Mariko, and others are alright and serve well in the story.

3a. Nyu, 'The Nyu Problem', and the Sickening Use of Emotional Manipulation: This is **absolutely** the number one factor that I hate the most from the anime **and** manga versions. This factor is somewhat not very surprising from fellow readers who had read Elfen Lied: Alternate, but many will probably ask me this: Why? A few rebuttals that are most likely to respond to this factor are the following: Nyu is super cute and 'Moe', Nyu is innocent—don't hate, and Nyu have not done **anything** wrong. If someone replied similar to the third rebuttal, I will go in rage. My answer to these: your rebuttal justification is very poor. To answer the question why I dislike Nyu is complex, but I will start breaking down the reasons. I will have to say that I hate Nyu the most, even surpassing Kouta and Yuka. The 'Nyu personality' is somewhat of a personality, but for all the wrong reasons and grave flaws. A personality is defined as characteristics/qualities that form a person's character. In the earlier episodes, this application is quite acceptable. She was shot and shocked by the .50 caliber's velocity and her memories (temporarily) were wiped out. However, a person **cannot AND should not** classify Nyu as a complete different personality just because she lost her memories and the portrayal of playing innocence. Throughout the entire show, I begin to suspect the transition from Lucy to Nyu seems a bit too…in place. For an example, in the sixth episode, Kouta finds Lucy and when she tells him that she is sorry, Kouta obtains another hallucination of the shaded, young Lucy. As Kouta suspects if Lucy was the one whom he met when they were children, Lucy transitionally shifts to Nyu, who she cries and cheers of her reunion with Kouta. Elfen Lied does say that Lucy has multiple personality disorder, but how can someone transition one personality to another in certain situations (in this case, the transition from Lucy to Nyu in this scene, is rather done on purpose). This transition is performed the same way in the beginning of the tenth episode when Nana and Lucy briefly fights until Mayu intervenes. When Mayu tells Lucy to stop fighting, she begins to compare Mayu's words to the young Kouta's, Lucy's personality is being transferred to Nyu…in a nick of time as Kouta shows up. From there, Nyu displays her usual tears and innocence. Fans of the show like to claim themselves, psychologists, and know every aspect about Nyu and her state of mind. So I am assuming that Nyu having 'amnesia' and playing innocence is classified as a personality?

What does it mean, 'The Nyu Problem'? In Elfen Lied, the main purpose of putting Nyu ('personality') to the storyline is to relieve the genre of dark horror and to bring in (attempted and failed) humor and lightness to the storyline. It's like adding sugar to a sour lemonade drink, but adding too much of it can change its intended taste. Well, this is what happened to the anime (and manga). I do understand of why Lynn Okamoto would do so, assuming that he does not want Elfen Lied to be an depressing, sad, and tragic story. In my honest opinion, I wish that he should not add humor since this factor distorts the intended genre of Elfen Lied. 'The Nyu Problem' is my proposed theory, which is the well-known contradiction between the state of minds from Lucy and Nyu…and is strongly denied by Elfen Lied fans by attacking this factor, claiming that this is false. If this theory is false, then why other anime fans who seen Elfen Lied said that there is a strange contradiction between the two different states (and there are a lot of anime fans who proposed this). I will not go any further details about 'The Nyu Problem' since diehard Elfen Lied fans are not rational enough to rebuttal this theory.

Lastly, Elfen Lied's 'controversial' use of emotional manipulation. This factor is the most controversial discussion between fans and those who dislike Elfen Lied. Considering on the emotional level in the show, this is a fact that the show contains a lot of emotional scenes. To separate facts and opinions, the factor of emotional manipulation actually stands in the middle though it leans more towards fact. What scenes in Elfen Lied contain emotional manipulation? I cannot answer this question as there are a lot of them, but all of the scenes (which contain this factor) have someone in common. The answer: Nyu. As you (the reader) and I know that Lucy and Nyu are contrast 'personalities', but shares the same body. We know that Lucy kills people from family members to security officers (in the anime). We know that Lucy's actions are sinful (though I don't think that Elfen Lied fans don't get it). The addition of Nyu is to refute that Lucy is not a bad character, including a motherload of ecchi content for Nyu and the overuse of 'Nyu's cuteness' which I **greatly despise**. The chasm between Nyu and Lucy is a big gap, but overusing Nyu too much in Elfen Lied anime and manga is actually ruining the supposed theme of darkness, depression, and seriousness of the franchise.

Final Verdict: 1 out of 5. When you see this score, you would think that I hate this franchise. However, in this special case, my rating of the Elfen Lied anime 1 out of 5 does **NOT** mean that I hate this show. The anime version has a lot of plot holes and little closure (remember that the anime was made in 2004 and the manga was not completed yet) and the outcome between Kouta and Lucy was a bit…rushed in my opinion. Elfen Lied actually as a lot of great potential to become an anime classic, but large plot holes and the addition of Nyu is bogging the show down, in my opinion. The animation was solid, mainly average, but I absolutely love the original soundtrack for the show by using the ensemble orchestra to play. The reason why I gave 1 out of 5 is only because the cons outweigh the pros by a lot. It's like a weight balance for an example; the cons weight the most and the pros is very light to counter it.

Author's Note: This is just Part One of the review as I am going to review the manga version. In Part II of the review, I will be including the history of the development about Elfen Lied: Alternate and the intended message about why I wrote the fanfiction story.

If you are an 'loyal' Elfen Lied and you feel a bit uncomfortable with this review, you can rebuttal any section of the anime review. However, if you want to rebuttal, it needs to be mature and appropriate, including no backlash since I already had to deal with those folks throughout the chapter uploads of Elfen Lied: Alternate.


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